Feeling Follows Action

There are an endless number of things I don’t want to do in a day, from getting out of bed, to doing the dishes, to having a tough call with a colleague, direct report, or client. From making dinner when I’m exhausted, to putting my phone down and being present with my family when I feel totally burnt out. Even washing my face, brushing my teeth, and putting in my night guard before bed can feel like a lot.

Do you feel me?

From the biggest things to the smallest, there are so many moments I just don’t feel like doing the thing. And yet, here’s what I know to be true: every time I stop procrastinating and just do it, I feel better. Every. Single. Time.

I don’t think I know I’m not alone in this. So I wanted to share the system I use to get out of my own way and into action, in work, in life, in motherhood, in all of it. My hope? That it inspires you to stop putting off what you need to do today… and just do it. Right now.

The Inertia Trap

Most people procrastinate, stall out, or otherwise avoid work not because they’re lazy or unmotivated, but because they’ve been tricked into thinking they need to feel ready to begin. In business and life, this is one of the most dangerous lies we buy into.

I lead a sales team, and before I led, I was an individual contributor myself, so I know from experience that sometimes the hardest part of sales isn’t closing the deal — it’s getting a deal started. Prospecting. Reaching out. Picking up the phone. Sitting down to write the first email. You tell yourself you’ll start as soon as you think of the perfect subject line, the ideal opener, the just-right CTA.

But instead of inspiration, you get paralysis. You overthink. You hesitate. You tweak the email. You rewrite it. You check Slack. You rewrite it again. And when you fail to come up with the perfect thing, you do the worst thing: nothing.

And that nothing creates stagnation. It compounds. The energy fades. The fear grows. And the result? No emails. No calls. No follow-ups. No pipeline. No progress.

The Shift — Feeling Follows Action

But here’s the deal, confidence, clarity, and momentum aren’t prerequisites for action, they are results of it. Once you stop waiting to feel ready and start doing something, everything begins to shift.

One of the most successful salespeople I’ve ever known, a literal Presidents Club regular, over and over, had a mantra: “Feeling follows action.”

This mantra has become a guiding force for my career, because what she meant was even more powerful than the words she used, what she meant was: You don’t wait to feel like doing the thing. You do the thing, and the feeling shows up afterward.

Once I internalized that, it changed everything — not just in sales, in life.

We’re so quick to talk about our goals. To dream big. To say we want to go for it. But we wait. We hesitate. We polish and perfect and prepare. We think we need clarity or certainty before we act. But clarity lives on the other side of action. And the lessons we need to grow, are also on the other side of action, especially imperfect, messy, flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants action.

How to Take Action When You Don’t Feel Like It

Taking action when you don’t feel like it isn’t about being superhuman — it’s about having a reliable strategy. One that lowers the bar, shrinks the fear, and helps you make momentum a habit.

In the words of the ever-wise James Clear “You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” The mantra “Feeling Follows Action” has become my system for success in everything I do, especially when I am scared or feeling stuck in the inertia trap.

Here’s my go-to strategy when I feel stuck, sluggish, or paralyzed by perfection:

• First, I establish one clear goal (e.g. get the email out the door), and set a timer for ten focused minutes of work.

• Next, I get to work, and when the timer goes off, I check in with my energy, chances are I feel more momentum now than I did before the ten minutes began.

• Finally, I use this momentum to complete whatever I need to in order to get v1 SHIPPED, sometimes it’s another ten minutes, other times it’s a phone call to a friend, partner, or colleague for some feedback, but more often than not, it’s ready to go by the end of time block #2, and I can cross it off my to do list knowing, and trusting that done is better than perfect, and that results follow consistent action 100x faster than perfect action.

It’s so simple, yet so powerful, because feeling really does follow action.

Question for You

Where are you stuck in an inertia trap right now? Where can you drop one clear goal and 10 minutes on your calendar to get out of your head, and into action?