Are you a dreamer or a doer?

I have a friend who is a font of ingenious business ideas, none of which will ever see the light of day. He’s a wonderful guy, but, like a lot of people, he’s more talk than action. A total dreamer. On the other hand, one of my female buddies rarely takes a moment for reflection. Instead, she’s a whirling dervish of constant motion.

My two friends represent opposite ends of the Dreamer-to-Doer continnum, from contemplation to action. Neither approach is right or wrong, but it’s important to recognize where you fall within the spectrum so that you can play to your strength while you’re shoring up your weaker side.

You know the dreamers of the world. They’re the ones who’ve developed a heightened sense of awareness. They may be good at trusting their gut and coming up with creative ideas, but they often fail to act on their intution. Doers are just the opposite. They are constantly on the go, but neglect to take internal inventory of what’s really important to them, so they don’t really know where all that movement is supposed to take them.

When you link dreaming with doing, you have the internal insight to know where you want to go and the external action steps to get you there. To help you understand where you fall within the range of dreamer to doer, try the following quiz.

Rate yourself on a 1–10 scale, 1 being strongly agree and 10 being strongly disagree:

1. When I run into a problem at work or home, I would rather think it through than take action to solve it.

2. When contemplating a big change in my life, I consult others for advice before making a move.

3. It’s not necessary for people to warn me to look before I leap.

4. When I find myself in personal or professional situations that make me miserable, I usually understand how I got there.

5. I sometimes feel that I am being directed by some form of inner guidance or unseen wisdom.

6. I would rather rely on gut instinct than market research.

7. The idea of a silent retreat—during which I don’t talk, watch television, or listen to the radio for several days—appeals to me.

8. I generally trust my own judgment more than other people’s.

9. I avoid acting impulsively or making snap decisions.

10. No decision is better than the wrong decision to me.

Now let’s see where you are on the continuum of dreaming to doing so you can begin to learn to link up these two powerful forces accordingly.

SCORING:
Add up your scores on the 1–10 scale and see how you rate as follows:

10–33 Internal Dreamer
You are in touch with your internal voice and have a clear sense of self-guidance. You are able to trust your intuition, but may not always take swift or appropriate action when you encounter obstacles.

34–67 Balanced: The Dreamer Who Does
You are usually able to find the fulcrum between internal vision and external action. You are generally intuitive and self-aware, often taking your own, as well as others’, viewpoints into account before acting. Once you’ve given thoughtful consideration to a problem or obstacle, you do not hesitate to act.

68–100 Action Doer
You are the person everyone is referring to when they say “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” You tend to stay in constant motion, sometimes to the point of collapse. But you are often disappointed that you don’t always reap the rewards you expect, because you have ignored the vital internal homework to determine a specific outcome and, instead, are merely taking action because you dread standing still.

Libby Gill is a personal coach, lecturer and author of “Traveling Hopefully.” Libby welcomes comments and questions at AskLibby@LibbyGill.com.

In order to understand how a person can best move into action, they must first understand where they fall on the continuum and that will help them understand their personal best first step to take.