Somewhere many moons past, I came across a quote that piqued my interest: "The secret to greatness is to be the person you pretend to be."
We spend hundreds of dollars and hours on personal development programs in an attempt to learn how to better ourselves, or achieve our goals. It is wonderful no? The act of self-betterment is a staple to happiness and essential in the larger context to the advancement of our society. Books and articles can guide us, however, the truth is that most of us already know exactly how to achieve the things we want in our life. The problem is hardly ever the know-how of how to get where we want to be. It is usually in the vast gap between what we know we should be doing and what we actually do. For example, do you want to lose weight and be healthy? Why not? Most of us do. Think about that honestly now, without kidding yourself. You already know how to do that, don't you? If you really did what you already know you need to do, you could probably accomplish your fitness goal within a few months. Similarly, do you want to get promoted at work? You already know what that takes too right? Want to learn piano? Want to become a better tennis player?… You get the idea. So, while I'm not preaching entirely against reading books and articles, as they can provide inspiration and new ideas, I would suggest that in achieving your dreams, spend twice the time on action and half the time on research. Too many times we get lost in research and subconsciously delay what we know is necessary. The pretense of planning, after a certain point, just becomes laziness to act. But you already knew that right?
3 responses so far ↓
1 Paras Mamania // Oct 20, 2009 at 8:30 am
nice post nim, be the possibility and do the necessary action with what you have and know…
2 ash // Dec 8, 2009 at 2:44 am
people often rely on interest nets for peer social validation to get bettr at stuff, homie
finding inspiration is super important… it’s not about the research, but the fodder itself is enough to excite people into doing something.
didn’t you tell me you use a personal trainer now? don’t you already know what it takes to get pythons of steel?
3 Nimit Maru // Dec 8, 2009 at 4:32 pm
You’re right, guidance from trainers or coaches, social validation from “interest nets,” or other types of incentives such as a monetary prize can be powerful ways to be motivated to reach a goal.
The purpose of my post, however, was to speak at a slightly “higher” level than that. We tend to use our circumstances as a crutch to define what we can and cannot do.
For example, many people working a day job have dreams of starting their own company. They may be telling themselves the story of “I am stuck in this job because of my family obligations,” or something similar. This could be true, but often, the reason we make up for ourselves isn’t the real reason. There is always some fear present behind the external reason. We are afraid of stepping out of our comfort zone to achieve our goals.
Doing things such as getting a trainer or piano teacher are things that directly prompt action towards a goal and are exactly the kinds of things I count under “action.” Research or thinking about it includes talking about it at a dinner party, dreaming about it in the shower, reading books and articles while months and months pass by without anything truly changing.
Thus, “spend twice the time on action and half the time on research.” We usually already know what really needs to be done, whether that means finding help or starting on your own.
Nimit
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