Learning, but not doing

[dor]

I was going to subscribe to this thread but then I realized.....in addition to learning about doing i will now be discussing and learning about why i am not doing!

Yes, you can get bogged down because it always seems like there's a new tip or whatever that's going to make it better.

But the fact is this; you can read about self improvement your entire lifetime- if you don't apply it you've wasted your time unless your ultimate goal is to be another napolean hill.

Lets face it, deep down there comes a point where we realized we know enough to go forward but keep 'learning' looking for security - perhaps afraid or resisent to change.

i think after a certain amount of saturation, you should just say "i will spend a half hour a day on self improvment - either reading blogs or books - and set aside 1-2 hours one day a week. the rest of the time should be about application.

[srkmish]

this is an answer by the great enlightened master osho about a person who says he is afraid of doing things,or participating but also wants to do things to know his potential

Mm, I understand. You don't know your own strength -- nobody knows, hence the problem. You don't know what you can do and what you can be. And I can understand. It is difficult to know unless you have done it. By doing it you come to know what you can do. The potentiality in itself cannot be known unless it becomes actual.
Everybody is so infinitely potential, but if you are simply waiting for somebody to do it for you, it will never happen, because there are things which cannot be done for you by anybody else. If you want to move in love, nobody can do it for you. You will have to fall in love. If you want to grow, nobody can grow for you. You will have to grow. Yes, others can help, they can show the path, but you cannot be dragged. That's what you are waiting for.
You are waiting for some father figure who comes and takes hold of you, and even against you, takes you. Nobody is going to come. You are waiting for Godot. That waiting can be eternal, and it will be a sheer wastage. You have to catch hold of your own potentiality, and you will have to start working on it.
Jesus has a beautiful saying, precisely for you: Those who have, more will be given to them.



Those who don't have, even that will be taken away from them. So if you really want to be caught by some force bigger than you, you will have to earn it. It cannot just happen as you are. At least you have to throw the net into the river. If you simply sit on the bank, nothing is going to happen. The river abounds in fish, but you have to throw your net. Then waiting will be meaningful.
Yes, after throwing the net one has to wait, but then waiting is meaningful because one has done something for it; one has earned it. But if you simply sit on the bank, asleep, then your waiting is pointless. Take a jump into sannyas and wait. Start doing meditations, do a few groups here... and have a little courage. Because if you have, I can give you more. If you don't have, nothing is possible.
The maxim looks a little absurd and anti-communistic, because ordinarily we think that those who don't have, they should be given more; the poor should be given more. And the saying says, 'Those who are rich, they shall get more. Those who are poor will lose even that which they have.' But it is really of a very fundamental nature. It is so.
If you start singing, more and more songs will be coming to you. If you start dancing, your body will start melting into dance and your body will start growing wings. Your body will become more fluid and you will be thrilled with new dreams and new dances.
You will become a receptor for more. If you paint, more paintings will start floating in your mind. Your dreams will become more colourful, more psychedelic. Visions will start following you like shadows -- but the basic step has to be taken by you.

They have a saying in Egypt that if you walk one step towards God, He walks a thousand and one steps towards you -- but only when you walk one step. If you don't walk one step, nothing happens. So waiting is not bad, but you have not chosen a right time for it. Waiting is beautiful, but take the first step. That first step simply shows, 'I am available.' The first step simply indicates, 'If something is given to me, I will appreciate it. If something is transferred to me, I will welcome it. I am ready. I will drink and absorb it. I will keep it in my heart as a treasure.' Your first step is a gesture

When you participate, then you know.
So that is happening in the spiritual world also. People come from the West. They go from this ashram to that ashram, and they watch what is happening. They have forgotten how to participate. Hence my insistence for sannyas. It simply means don't be a spectator. Commit yourself. Go into it. Know it by participation -- and there is no other way to know it.



Do visit osho-isayuntoyou.blogspot.com/

[Magnus]

I saw this Ze Frank episode that reminded me of this thread. "Brain Crack" kinda sounds like what I'm experiencing. Never executing my ideas, at least never to finish, just building it up in my head.

the show with zefrank

For you who don't know what "Ze Frank" is (I didn't until recently) here is a background article that summarizes it. Look up "Earth Sandwich" as well, while you're at it.

[Liara Covert]

Wherever you are, however you think, you can discern what you think is working or isn't working. We can learn by thinking and we can learn by doing.

Ask yourself what would cause you to act? Consider the consequences of doing something differently or not acting at all. If you foresee positive developments will arise from exerting effort, like you may obtain or expeirence something you desire, then you're more likely to act. If you wish to improve your experience or change something about yourself, once you realize that's possible, you're more likely to exert effort. if you wish to change other people or situations outside your control, that's something else again, for you can only ultimately control how you think, perceive and act, not other people.

Previous postings remind us that we all have the tools and situations which can give us reason or incentive to learn and understand. Whether we teach, travel, write, research or partake in other activities, its clear that nothing and everything can still surprise us, whether we consciously act or not.

[thestral]

Nope, not at all. When I learn something new and it sounds interesting, I immediately give it a test drive. Currently I'm test driving one of the topics from Steve's podcast, the one about aligning with your goals by living the lifestyle one would live with the goal already achieved.

[Liara Covert]

Hi thestral.
What you describe strikes me as a great idea. If you think as though you've already achieved what you set out to do, that would certainly keep you motivated or inspired. Steve's podcast reiterates ideas presented in The Secret.

For example, some people are studying to nurture certain talents, but find it hard to acknowledge what they believe they are. If you aspire to become an artist and already create, why don't you describe yourself as an artist now? If you strive to invent something useful for a big market, you can describe yourself as an inventor before you obtain fame or your desired patent. If you hope to become a bestselling author and you already write, you can describe yourself as a writer. Each of us can learn to boost our self-confidence in ways that motivate us to devote more time and energy to realizing dreams. Attract what you desire by way of raising awareness of what you really see yourself doing. The more you talk about it, the more likely youa re to be convinced and to convince others that you'll achieve it.

[gpierrus]

Over 3000 + views so far... I think the key to anything is action... And the biggest problem that people have is not taking action or perhaps starting something and not going through with it. I am guilty of it! And so are many others...

I have found the best way to accomplish anything is just by breaking it down into little 'bites'... that can be 'chomped' up easily... making goals really accessible.

[jbsmith]

There is a real danger in relying too much on external knowledge while neglecting the quiet reflection, meditation, yoga techniques for internal discovery.

Learning itself is not the problem - but in most cases I would suggest the amount we seek to learn from others versus the amount of internal discovery we do is reversed.

It's very difficult to explain - but internal discovery seems to always lead to real benefit in my life, external learning is only effective when it aligns with where I am internally, if that makes any sense.

Jeff

[Sunnybayes]

The people who figure out how to take action become the leaders.

Most people are not the leaders. Most people are followers. Most people learn too much.

Leaders are creative. They know how to seek answers for themselves. They come up with the solution themselves.

Seriously. If everyone here took a week and thought about nothing but how to be productive, just finding the answers within, then they could probably come up with enough insight to derive a huge chunk of the knowlege that was written by Steve. They have the intuition there to make decisions, though it might take like a year or two to try to type it out what they've discovered in a week.

Its like there there is one high level formula, and then the Personal Development writers who know the simple formula themselves throw tons of different situations to the formula, and then they take those answers and sell them in huge books. When the formula itself is very simple, and is very general, and can handle any experience that can ever happen to a human.

Then its up to the reader to take in all the answers of the book, find the pattern, and then hopefully be able to derive that formula. But then people get stuck when they've found the simple formula... and its just too simple. They don't lead themselves to apply new numbers/situations to that formula (they are not brave enough to apply that life formula to new life situations) or they are just stuck with getting good at coming up with different formula's. Or that they are not patient enough to plug in numbers and do a few simple calculations to come up with their own answers. Or they are distracted and forget that they know the formula. Or they don't know what numbers to plug into their formula because they don't have any real goals.

Or that they are looking for someone else to tell them what to apply the formula to. You've gotta learn how to be your own leader, or you are always going to be stumbling through life not knowing really what to do and feeling quite pointless.

Here's a formula, instead of a table of answers, to get you off of inaction:
Do a 30 day trial of spending an hour a day of thinking about your own formula that runs your life, from internal knowlege, not external knowlege. This is where a journal comes in handy. External knowlege is the table of answers. You are deriving the equitation that comes up with those answers. You are coming up with your own formula. Like Steve has his own formula and that's why he's able to create this huge blog, he just keeps throwing on new situations onto the formula. on You are learning internally how to be your own leader (i.e. learning how to plan). Then spend a second hour thinking about your life goals/purpose. Your life goals will be the numbers that you will plug into your formula that you've derived.

Here's a formula that DNA provides for your life purpose:
To be happy, you have to constantly have good relationships, health, and wealth, and curiosity (built in because nature wants us to know about our environment so that we can manipulate it and survive in it better)

But all of this advice was derive from my own formula... though this is when action is required action that you come up with your own formula.

Steve described his formula that he uses for running/managing his life here:
Meaning of Life From Purpose to Action

more specifically more on planning

And what his input is for his "life equation" here:
About Steve Pavlina

What has resulted from him applying his equation to his purpose that he described there? This whole website of his that makes him $100,000

His whole idea about light/dark workers is so that you don't feel guilty for having your own world changing, ambitious goals.

And that when you have high enough goals, then learning will no longer be just something to do, it will be action, because you know how it will get you to those high level goals.

And if you actually read these articles, then it actually counts as action because you are taking action to derive your own equation that runs your life, and then if you read his articles about finding life purpose then that is also action because you are taking action to find your life purpose/goals.

Then to take action for the rest of your life onward, you'll take the formula that you've derived from reading all that information and apply it to your own life purpose that you've created.

And never again will you not be doing action as long as whatever you are doing is fulfilling your life purpose. Learning is action as long as you know how it is specifically fulfilling your life goals and purpose. Learning is inaction if you don't know.

So if you have not defined your life purpose yet, then everything that you do is inaction. (i.e. tv, school, your job, your family.... unless you know how those specifically help you to fulfill your life goals... like if TV helps you to recharge so you can be your best later, then its cool... but if you are just addicted to it and it keeps you away from figuring out how to be a billionaire then it is inaction...)

[may77]

we need to take action.
ready- fire- aim
or
ready - aim- aiming - still aiming--.... fire
many people are too preoccupied aiming and never fire. or when they do it is very late.
those who try but at not too much risk to themselves end up learning more by doing.
But of course, have an overall action plan and direction first.
Then go out and try, and attract your desired results.
Learn and take action learning.

[jolynnong]

I was introduced to "The Secret" Movie by a friend some times ago.
For me, this is one of the best movie I have ever watched. it was such an incredibly powerful experience for me.

I used to have the similar challenges, but the message in the movie has changed my life. I am now using the Law of Attraction, and I see result.

I would suggest that you watch this movie if you haven't done so.
I have compiled a number of The Secret related video, including the 1st 20 minutes of The Secret in my website. You are welcome to watch and experience: Videos » Science Of Getting Rich

[Vincentboucher]

suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regrets......you choose

[alexyeo]

I believed that life has a lot to do with balance. When we upset this balance, we usually have to pay for it. Too much of something can be as damaging as too little.

Too much reading restrict action. If we over analyze, we cannot decide and become paralyzed by it. Too much knowledge can confuse too!

Many things are only good up to a point. Often, what we need isn’t more of something, but something else. For example, a change, new sensations or some challenge.

We need to take actions and apply what we had learned!

[PhyllisZ]

I guess I'm not the only one out there. GREAT POST IDEA!

I read and read and read... sometimes just to procrastinate even more. I know exactly what I need to do, or at least what path to take to start my unwinding journey... but my problem is not taking enough ACTION.

The latest book I read was The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. I swear that every time I opened up that book, it was as if Jack was watching how my day was going, and put the chapters in the order that I needed to hear it.

There are several excellent chapters related to procrastination, the different things that cause it, and how to blast through it.

Sometimes it's related to not being sure what to do, or how to do something... but many times it's related to your own self-confidence. It could be related to fear, or worthiness, or dozens of other things, but...

One principle that has helped me start breaking through my ACTION barrier is to write down all of the things I have accomplished in my life... starting with the big things, then going into further detail about all the small things I've accomplished, (even things like learning how to ride a bicycle). The more things that you can remember as successful things you have accomplished in life, and the more you celebrate your past successes, the more confidence you will have to take on any task. Generally speaking, many of us remember our small failures more than we remember our big successes.

I'm still working on my action part... but I've definitely started to make some progress.

[rini17]

Fine thread, thank you all!! I stumbled upon this quote from Sai Baba:

"You are searching for too much information and for too little transformation."

and it haunts me ever since

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by rini17

Fine thread, thank you all!! I stumbled upon this quote from Sai Baba:

"You are searching for too much information and for too little transformation."

and it haunts me ever since

Einstein said, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

For some of the best Einstein's quotes

.

[as5tx]

This thread was started by mentioning that there's lot to read and little to implement. My point is that if one looks closely, there are only a few limited principles to follow and implement. All material, books , forums etc that we are going through will only put forward this message in different ways, elaborating and explaining in different styles and giving different examples. So after a point in time you'll become bored, if you don't find anything significantly different. So therefore what i do is this : I pick an attribute that i want to develop. Eg lets say courage. Then having already read a lot about it, i refer back to my notes or simply recollect them. Then i set goals like, i want to achieve this much courage in these many days. Next step is to make an action plan, design exercises. For eg i might try doing something which i was really afraid of in the past. Then if i need more help, i research more - refer books, go to the net etc. This way i ensure that i only read as much as i require and two, i implement and try something before going for more information. I think, in this way, knowledge and application can go hand in hand.

[ken nubo]

Some people who learn all the time but don't do anything, it's called the "lets get 10 doctorate degrees in college and let it hang in the wall" syndrome.

[victoriawright]

In my pursuit to have more things done, save time and be more efficient, I've made some awful mistakes when it comes to goal setting, effective time management and even planning my actions.
But i learned from my mistakes...

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my life is that 90% of success comes from deciding to take ACTION on my goals.

To conquer this Syndrome of "Learning, but not doing " you have to decide WHAT you want and WHY you want it .

The reason you are giving up easily when you want to achieve something is that the goal or the assignment appears TOO BIG in your mind.

Whenever you are feeling stuck or procrastinating, try to find ways to chunk down your goal into steps. Stop thinking of ALL the things you have to do, and how PAINFUL they are. Instead, chunk them down into 3 simple steps. Focus on these 3 steps and you’ll soon feel more relaxed and more balanced.

I hope this helps you...

[Max Power]

Originally Posted by MercuryLime

I think that's true - a lot of us have the tendency to value stuff that "sounds true" over stuff that actually works in real life.

Well said, there's no point in adopting something or having a belief system unless it empowers you to be a better person and live a better life. Knowledge is power, but action will usually be a requirement, took me years to find the right thing that helps me live a better life and see everything better.

Whatever floats your boat and feels right