Do you spend most of your free time reading and gathering information? Are you a podcast, article, book reading, video watching junkie who gathers a lot of amazing information, new ideas and perspectives, but find that it never seems to make any meaningful progress in your life? You might be trying to take your life to the next level by using the power of your mind alone.
How is that working for you?
Fact is, self and professional development starts with new knowledge, and you are definitely doing the right thing by reading and learning. However, it just won’t be enough. Nothing changes until your behavior changes. Sure, we can all feel better about our life after our mental gymnastics, but is anything actually happening in your life on foot of all these intellectual efforts?
Here are some impulses that work well if you combine them with your knowledge and skills.
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 still need to take action of some kind, and the more you want to accomplish, the bigger the action you’ll need to take.
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, and having options isn’t the same as focusing on one and taking action.
Your beliefs, values, and thoughts influence your behavior. For example, if you believe that you’re smart, capable, and fun, your behavior will be different than if you believe that you’re not bright enough, incapable, and boring. How about asking yourself these questions to get more insight:
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 have any actual power in the world, other than that they can influence the choices you make and the actions you take.
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 set yourself up to fail.
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 (even though you need to do that too!)
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 certain career or relationship moves, right? 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 one small change can you make to get things moving, and when do you want to get started?
Enjoyed this? Get the next edition.
Subscribe and I’ll email you a link each time a new edition is published.