And… Action! – Chapter 4: Take the Red Pill, Quit the Quo

Did I say action was important? Just a little. The most important little word there is (along with attitude)…

It is also very elusive. Why is it so hard for people to take the required actions when they know it’s working towards what they want? It’s a strange one and the psychology probably runs pretty deep, outside the remit of this book for sure.

And of course lack of action and procrastination go hand in hand like little play pals. Health & fitness author and former sportsman Matt Furey says this:

It’s action that wins the prize. Action is the straw that turns the drink. Action is the key to getting the results you want in life

Quite.

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I mean people can pontificate and theorise till the cows come home but it won’t get the baby a new hat. You can spend years analysing, planning but ultimately action is where it’s at and you don’t know anything until you’re taking actually steps forward.

Thing is you don’t know what will happen with a given endeavour until you’re in amongst it. You might worry about certain things that may never materialise… also, things that you never even considered might occur meaning you just have to deal with them as they arise. You can’t second guess what might happen.

And the beauty is that when you’re in the flow of action and moving forward, things start happening. It could be a chance conversation, a person entering into the project, a situation you had never envisaged but helpful, maybe a complete change of course for the better that you would have never known or thought about before taking that action.

No folks, nothing ever happened without action. Thinking (to an extent) is good. As is visualising, as is planning. But there comes a time when you need to stop messing about and as the good folk at Nike would say – Just Do It.

Another good success book is Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. It talks about the concept of guided missiles. The missiles are fired on course for their target but on the way veer off and are constantly course corrected. It may go off to the left and is then over corrected to the right and so on and so forth. These constant little corrections take place the entire journey until it reaches it’s desired target.

This principle applies to us and our endeavours. What it does show is that we should have a definite target in mind, ie. a goal. Then just get going towards that goal. We blatantly won’t go in a straight line, it ain’t gonna happen, so as and when required we simply ‘course-correct’ as much and as little as needed at that stage still very much with our eyes on the prize and heading forcefully in that direction.

I’ve also heard the concept of getting started asap and adapting as you go as ‘ready, fire, aim’ (as opposed to ready, aim, fire), so you do your aiming after you’ve fired. Not sure about gimmicks and how it’s expressed but the principles are good however they are communicated.

But lets delve a little deeper into the psychology of lack of action and perhaps look at how we can increase this activity…

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For a start people think too much (well, not all people but the people with intelligent minds who are going after the bigger things). This has been my downfall. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and very little time doing. This needs to be turned upside down. I’m not the only one, it is commonplace.

You need to think to a certain degree. To do the basics in life you need to think a little, to plan for a goal or dream you may have to think quite a lot but there’s a time and a place. Too much thinking can give you an extreme headache. It can also halt you in your tracks like nothing else. It also gives rise to procrastination and inaction. Most of the noise in your head is irrelevant, only a small % is worthwhile and the rest is just random chatter and repeated nonsense.

Funnily enough, the best way to stop thinking so much is to start doing more. I know this is kind of a paradox but it is what it is. So you have to force yourself into some sort of action. Lose yourself in an activity. It doesn’t have to be connected with your main goal but any way you can lose yourself in the moment, just let go and deal with things as they happen. Concentrate on actively doing more things and cut back on the mindless thinking.

Listening too much. This is another. It ties in with criticism. Try not to listen to too many people. Opinions are a very cheap commodity, everyone has them and they generally offer little value. Most people’s opinions are just rehashed opinions of others anyway (media, guy in the pub etc). Get the people who have achieved success in your chosen endeavour, or are on their way to doing so, people you respect as they have shown themselves to be worth listening to.

Talking too much. Don’t talk too much. Just get on with it. The more you talk about what you’re going to do the less you are doing it. You are also opening yourself up to people shooting you down and pissing on your fire. Be careful who you share your dreams with as they need to be protected. It’s a delicate balance as you may need and want to share some things with appropriate people. But not too much.

Tell the world what you’re going to do but first show them
– Napoleon Hill

Fear. We’ll speak about fear of criticism in due course… this is terminal. But also; The fear of failure; If people were 100% they would get what they wanted then they would be sure to take the action. But they have a nagging doubt somewhere that perhaps it might all be a little pointless so is it worth that long term potential gain or the short term pay-off of not doing it and doing something more fun and painless.

They may ‘fail’ (no-one that ever tries to do something can fail, each ‘failure’ moves you closer to success, the most successful people are the people who have ‘failed’ the most... the people who haven’t are the people that haven’t tried and that’s the true failure), they may succeed but they are uncertain and quite frankly can’t be bothered.

You need to get bothered.

You need to remind yourself of your goal, revisit the plan, remember what it will be like to achieve that goal, remind yourself that you are capable and your past successes, and just have a little bit of faith that if you continue with persistence and tenacity that you will win out at some stage.

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Funnily enough, fear of success. Sounds a bit silly, surely we all want success, right? Maybe, but on some level maybe not. Thing is, with success brings change… and change is to be feared. We don’t know what is the other side but we know what’s here and even if we’re not happy about it we can cope and we know our enemy… better the devil you know.

If you become successful, to a small or large degree, your life will change. Perhaps more money, a different status among your peers, a move to a new city or country, new relationships. Scary times. It may be what you’ve always wanted but you’ve carved yourself a cosy little rut and it’s become quite comfortable. But now is the time to take the plunge, just do it and see what happens. Sure, life will never be the same again, but just go with the adventure… enjoy the roller coaster ride.

It’s just a ride – Bill Hicks

There are other basic fears that play a part in our lives and may contribute our thinking and subsequent action and inaction. Namely, fear of poverty, ill health, loss, old age and death. All other fears can be grouped within these but that is all a much deeper (and longer) discussion so the ones we have discussed sums up the basics and are the most relevant to us right now.

But remember this: