What Does It Mean to Have Action Toward Your Goals?

I was thinking about the statement: “Do the right things long enough, consistently.” This is one of the tenets of success—you do the right things, but you don’t know how long it will take. You just continue consistently using spaced repetition. This realization led me to wonder: Does “do” mean action, requiring effort toward a goal? Does “things” mean a sequence of actions rather than a single act? How does this principle apply to achieving success?