Why Taking Action is the Thing That Matters

Do you spend all of your free time reading and gathering information? Are you a self-help junkie that never seems to make any meaningful progress in your life? Are you trying to take your life to the next level by using the power of your mind alone? 

How is that working for you? 

Nothing changes until your behavior changes. Sure, you might feel better about your life after all of your mental gymnastics, but is anything actually happening in your life from all of these intellectual efforts? 

Take action and watch your life change before your eyes! Consider these ideas: 

1. You have to do something for something to happen. Nothing happens until you act. You can’t wish or visualize your way to a plate of food, a fancy car, the partner or your dreams, or a successful business. Those things might make it easier for you to act, but you must still take action of some kind. 

• Unless you’re telekinetic, you can’t even make a paperclip move across your desk without taking action. 
• The more you want to accomplish, the bigger the action you’ll need to take. 

2. It’s not what you can do that matters. It’s what you actually do that counts. The amount of capability you possess only increases the number of options you have available. 

• Having options isn’t the same as choosing one and taking action. 

3. Your beliefs, values, and thoughts influence your behavior. For example, if you believe that you’re smart, capable, and good looking, your behavior will be different than if you believe that you’re simple minded, incapable, and homely in appearance. Here are some more examples: 

• Do you believe that failure is fine or to be avoided at all costs? 
• Do you believe that most people are inherently good or inherently bad? 
• Do you value safety or adventure? 
• Do you have positive thoughts about your goals or negative? 
• None of these things has any actual power in the world, other than that they can alter the choices you make and the actions you take. 

4. The law of averages is ultimately on your side. If your dream is to play the piano, you can certainly do it. You simply have to keep trying. A pro pianist might play a certain piece better than you do, but you’ll most likely be successful eventually. 

• When you take action, you get a result. You’re bound to get the result you want eventually if you take action long enough. Eventually, the law of averages will pay off. 
• When you do nothing, you always fail. 

5. Action creates potential. When you take action, you can learn from your results. When you take action, things change. New opportunities become available. You might meet a new person that can help you get what you want. When you take the first step, the next step appears. 

• Things start happening when you start moving. Nothing happens while you’re learning, scheming, and planning. 

Things begin to change when your behavior changes. You’ve proven this to yourself thousands of times throughout your life. Your life changed when you started school, changed schools, and made new friends. Your life was different after you made permanent changes to your diet or started a new diet. 

You can’t just accumulate knowledge, daydream, or make grand plans. You have to DO new things. 

When your behavior changes, your life changes. How do you want your life to change? What can you DO to make it happen? When will you get started?