Forward motion does not necessarily equate to positive results.  Humans in motion is normal and practical but taking action might have an effect and alas it might have no impact. 

The point is the importance of recognizing doing something might not be a worthwhile expenditure of energy, in and of itself.   Unfortunately acting without due care and caution could result not only in no impact but also in a negative impact causing the need for rework.

Planning, Focus, Validation

Ideally all behaviour and activity you undertake should be with a concious purpose.  Understanding the reason to put things in motion makes the effort more likely to succeed.

If you are not clear on what the purpose is the outcome may be good, bad or indifferent.  In this case luck is the predominent predictor of the outcome.

Driving Achievement

There are times when you may choose to go with the flow and let fate determine what happens.  As long as that maps to your initial expectations, you shouldn’t be disappointed.

More often you have a sense of purpose.  To help reduce the risk of wasted effort, the first step is to clarify in your mind what success will look like.

That is to be very definitive about what you intend to have occur.  This leads of course to planning how to do it and finally execution.

Mistakes

One of your top objectives should not only be to follow your plan but to check along the way things are proceeding as expected.  

This is a critical requirement to avoid wasted effort and rework.  Recently I spent days working on a task, with a great deal of forward momentum, only to find I had made a significant error early on.

Sadly, I had to start all over again.  I was busy do the work, but not productive.  I knew what and how but forgot to validate along the way to confirm I was on track.

It’s worth giving some thought before leaping ahead toward your next goal.