Your actions reveal how badly you want something

The basic division

Have you ever noticed that there are two types of people? Both set some goals. But the crucial difference between them is that whereas the first ones talk a lot about it, they study, plan, and prepare themselves endlessly, the second ones just start doing things. Actions speak louder than words. As if an invisible megaphone screamed at them: Action!

The preppers

I have to say I kinda admire these people. They dedicated months, even years to investigating every single detail of what they wanted to accomplish. They read books and articles, they know everything that the Internet says, they have a plan and they keep improving it. Every single step, every minor detail, everything has to be perfect. They live by preparing for the goal. They dedicate hours every single day to have more information and a better strategy, and they create a master plan.

The thing is that these people very rarely pull up their sleeves and start doing something. Their goal is on the paper and in their mind. They feel that this is not the right time, they don’t know many more things, this is not right, that needs to be improved. But they talk a lot about it. All the time and to everyone. Even random people they meet know what they are up to – well, in preparation.

The doers

These people are a very different tribe. They decide something and they jump and start doing it immediately. But this is not wise! They should investigate more, they should prepare more! The objection is here and it might be right. Well, partially.

Have you ever realized that you might have a master battle plan but the moment you start fighting, all becomes a huge mess and everything is completely different than you planned? All your master plan goes down the drain.

The problem with plans

I am not saying that having no plan is a great idea. It is good to know at least more or less what you are up to. But when you start doing something, it is never as perfect as it seemed on the paper. Things go wrong, something doesn’t work at all, some parts are missing, some steps are completely redundant, and the enemy counterattacks in places when you least expected that. But on the paper, it looked perfect…

It is always like that with plans. We dream and draw the perfect outcome but there are so many unpredictable things that will always interfere, that it is virtually impossible to prepare for them. From this point of view, it is better to start doing something that leads in the right direction and keep adding or subtracting things as you see fit. Maybe you will find that you started a completely wrong way. Easy! Let’s start over and different.

A hamster in the wheel

People who stick to the perfect plan no matter what and don’t see that the situation they are in is completely different, these people will fail miserably. It is like trying to find Central Park with a map of Houston. The more you run, the more you look, the more you try to find some resemblance, the more you will find that it is all wrong. But because it is a map, it must be right. So you keep running like a hamster in the wheel trying to figure things out while you can’t see that you have a wrong map that doesn’t fit.

Instead of stopping somewhere and starting to think and compare what is there, you keep running. And the more you run, the further you are from the desired destination. You are completely lost, you do one wrong thing after another, yet you convince yourself that it is the map that is wrong, not you.

Be aware of what is going on

People who are aware of what is going on, where they are, and where they are heading, are much wiser. They make one step and they check what it did. Was it in the right direction? Was it long enough or too long? How did it feel? Was the outcome the way they wanted? Or do they face something completely different? And what the next step will be? What is the next logical step to take so that they get to the final destination?

These people might seemingly go slower. It is not so much fun. But if you step back and compare planners and doers, you will see that planners run a lot, they do a lot of work, and they try many things. They end up exhausted and they don’t advance much. But doers are more strategic. They go slow, they asses the outcomes, they think about what to do next. They don’t run too much, they are more like a well-oriented snail. They go slow but in the correct direction. They have way more energy to do the right things and in the right way. Guess who will get there first and in better condition 😉

A flexible plan

If you have a goal, it is important to think about it. How will I get there? But instead of making a perfect map, it is better to have a direction. Start somewhere and keep going. Step by step. Even the smallest step in the right direction is much more worthy than running like Usain Bolt somewhere else. You are fast but you are heading the wrong way. That is the problem.

Whatever we are doing, it will never be perfect. It can’t be. We would have to live in a vacuum. If people and circumstances must be involved, a master plan will go down the drain sooner or later. It is much wiser to be aware and creative. Only by keeping the right direction, advancing one more step at a time is so much worth it. It might look slow, but you are heading there. Sooner or later you will get there. And that is what counts.

You are not a NASA engineer

Talking a lot, preparing endlessly, and making the plan as fine as possible, rarely brought anything good. Ok, unless you are a NASA engineer and you are launching a rocket to Mars. This is the time to have a master plan with 50 different variants in every single step. But if you want to lose weight, it is not good to nothing to have a wardrobe full of gym clothes, 10 different sneakers, and a shelf full of supplements. If you have a donut for breakfast, a burger for lunch, and pizza for dinner, a perfect plan won’t do the work for you.

Start somewhere

Maybe park on the other side of the parking lot, take a wing of stairs, have and an apple as a snack. Stick to it. Walk around the block during your lunch break. Start stretching while watching the news. Yes, it is almost nothing and it won’t make any change. Do you think so? This is much more likely to stick with you long term than hitting the gym once, killing yourself doing everything there is, sweating like a pig, and not being able to get up the next day. Are you sure you will go again the next day? I doubt it.

Find the way

If you really want something, you will find a way. Maybe you are heavily overweight and you can’t go jogging. But how about buying that one-kilo dumbbell and lifting it while watching TV? Have two donuts instead of four? Add some veggies to your plate. You have to start somehow. But start. That is the point. Bit by bit, one habit at a time, it all adds up. No, you won’t lose 50 kilos in a single month, you know that, no matter what they say, but in a year you will be sure better off than now.

Stick with it. Make it slow. Make one small change. But don’t skip and don’t slack. The easier it gets, the more probable it is that you will keep doing it. Add something more challenging. Ok, reasonably challenging. Something that you can do but it will require some effort from you. But don’t kill yourself while trying. Reasonably challenging is the trick.

If you really want it, you will get it. It might take you a long time. But you know what? If it was easy, everybody would be doing that. Start now and you will surprise yourself. Sure you can do things. Ind if you say you can’t, you are also right. But it is an excuse 🙂 That is a different thing 😛