Is the Hokey Pokey Your Strategy for Taking Action?

Penguins Doing the Hokey Pokey

Do you use the Hokey Pokey model for taking action? Do you put your right foot in, take your right foot out, put your right foot in, and shake it all about? That strategy actually leads to taking no action, at all. It means that you are standing in one spot, active, but not really moving forward.

The Hokey Pokey model tricks your brain into thinking you’re doing something. It says, “Hey, look at me! Look at all of the things I’m doing!” When you step back and check in with yourself, you’ll see that you aren’t moving toward your goals or your dreams. This strategy trips you up in your work life and in your personal life.

One way to recognize that you’re stuck doing the Hokey Pokey is that you aren’t ever reaching your goals or dreams. You likely are thinking about them, over and over and over – again tricking your brain into believing you’re moving forward. One reason for this over-thinking is you don’t give yourself permission to dream about what you really want. You set goals based on what you think you should want.

If you haven’t allowed yourself to dream big, start with small steps. I know this might sound silly, but decide what flavor of ice cream you’d love to have. And, then buy it! If you’ve said to yourself, “I don’t really have a flavor preference. Anything would be good.” I challenge you to explore that.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Do you really not care? Or, have you gotten into a rut of deferring to others? Is not choosing a way to protect yourself from making the wrong choice and being disappointed?

Now, let’s expand this a bit. Ice cream is a fairly safe place to choose. What about in your work? Do you say the safe thing when your boss asks for your opinion? Do you tone yourself down so you don’t make waves or so you fit in? What if the thing you know to say is the exact thing that would change the entire project? And, it would lead to you gaining more respect and a big, fat raise. Hmm, something to think about.

So, the next time you notice you’re doing the Hokey Pokey when trying to move forward, stop and simply turn yourself around. Step back and decide what is one step you could take to move forward?

Leave a comment below and share when you do the Hokey Pokey rather than take action to move forward.

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