If your business exists in the online realm like mine, you know there is never a shortage of people telling you your “next best course of action”. You take classes, read books, read blogs but at the end of the day you are left with a daunting problem: How do I put this all together? How is it possible to implement all these best practices taught by these gurus I respect?

Here are five things you can do to help turn knowledge into action

Gain Focus

The biggest confusion comes from not knowing where you want to go. As you come across information you should be able to decipher useful information from useless information based on where you are trying to go. All information is useful but not all information is useful to you. In order to turn knowledge into action you will need to figure out the latter.

Take Nike’s advice, “Just do it”

Once you gain focus do not spend numerous hours trying to plan and strategize. Just take action. Excessive planning is the enemy of action.

Drive out fear

You cannot be scared of making mistakes as you will cripple your ability to act. Mistakes are a natural part of the learning and doing process. The key is learning from your mistakes and using it as a base for growth.

Measure

Measure what matters and what turns knowledge into action. Beware of useless measurement tools that do nothing for your business. Your measurement should be based on what you choose to focus on.

Say goodbye to time wasters

Use your time and resources on people and things that matter. People who do not have priorities in their life tend to waste other peoples time. Watch out for these people as they will kill your time. Also watch out for activities that kill time: Things we are used to doing but bear no impact on what we are focusing on.

The bottom line is, in order to turn knowledge into action, you have to take action. The key is developing focus and taking actions that align with your areas of focus.