Action Bias (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Action Bias

[Andrew Brunelle]

I'd say you hit it on the head with this one, Steve. Taking action, in the long run, is way better than not taking action. If you don't take action, nothing is going to change. And like you said, unless you are completely satisfied with your life, it is better to take action and take a few risks than to remain complacent in an unsatisfying life.

[taylor]

Love love loved it.

I forgot how important that mindset is. Thanks for the wake up call.

[VinceG]

I take a lot of action. I take a lot of non-action. I consider both to be essential. Generally the non-action consists of getting ready for action. I sit and just be, collecting my mental reserves. Then when it comes time to take the action, it moves right along. My action also tends to contain elements of non-action as well. I'm watching, collecting data to crunch later in my non-active mode.

But then, my aim is not success in the world. Success is more of a side project.

[Harmonium]

Great article, I'd say this is something a lot of people need to hear, including myself. Thanks

[roxyruby]

Steve,

Love this post. Thank you so much.

[Bud921]

Typo on the last line!

This is a terrific was to experience a fulfilling life that makes you happy and contributes to others.

[roxyruby]

people in their 20's being a definable category of people, it feels to me...very limiting and confining.......

it influences my mind.....my brain is going... " here is a description of people in their 20's....." and it becomes an unconscious assciation that "people in their 20's are like this and do this".......

Identity defining, maybe....I think it's possibly Very destructive and limiting even though there's prob genuine good intentions, at least it feels so to me.... because I don't want pyschological limits placed on what I can do and who I can be

I think a more free-ing way is, "Some people make the mistake of believing that they will achieve their big goal within a year..." or "A warning to people new to starting a business or if you're thinking of giving up" instead of "People in their 20's (Or whatever age number defined category) often make the mistake of..." etc

it may be a real description of things and a factual and useful observation, but i think the non-categorizing of people way will expand the persons imagination of what they can do & be and therefore this will have a positive influence on what they do & what they become

[James81]

Good post. Definitely something I needed to hear right now.

It seems the theme of my life right now is sticking with something (maintaining focus) until completion. If I had to target my number one weakness it would be this ADD-esque flitting from idea to idea without seeing any of them through to completion.

I'm highly productive and efficient and action oriented. I can get **** done very quickly. I just need to develop an element of focus that keeps me on task longer.

Any suggestions?

[Mounds]

Want to know the really scary part about the "people in their 20's" statement? Those people are going to become people in their 30's, 40's and onward. In other words, it's a generation thing. That does appear to be a general characteristic of people in my generation. I don't think that's going to change according to the number of years you've been alive. It's going to take actually doing something about it.

Timely article for me as well. Thanks!

[ChrisG]

Originally Posted by Mounds

Want to know the really scary part about the "people in their 20's" statement? Those people are going to become people in their 30's, 40's and onward. In other words, it's a generation thing. That does appear to be a general characteristic of people in my generation. I don't think that's going to change according to the number of years you've been alive. It's going to take actually doing something about it.

Agreed. I think 20-somethings today are more impatient and want to achieve more stuff sooner than previously. But I think so long as we live in an advanced society, that's always going to happen.

I say: Have faith that you will get better with time, because you are a person committed to personal development You are right, some people won't change, and will still be as spoilt and have huge expectations of themselves in their 40s.

But it's also a youth thing, and I think an important one, because it's where the young get their drive. The experience and wisdom comes later with time.

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by Mounds

Want to know the really scary part about the "people in their 20's" statement? Those people are going to become people in their 30's, 40's and onward. In other words, it's a generation thing. That does appear to be a general characteristic of people in my generation. I don't think that's going to change according to the number of years you've been alive. It's going to take actually doing something about it.

Timely article for me as well. Thanks!

Every generation says similar things about the generation after it. I'm not saying it's completely incorrect-it's certainly possible that due to our new technology, younger people are more impatient-but when you look at history you'll see that the previous generation has been saying things about the next generation such as:

"They're taking on too much debt!"
"They're too promiscuous!"
"They're too impatient!"
"They have no morals!"

...for centuries, if not millenia.

[taylor]

Originally Posted by James81

Any suggestions?

Make a decision to focus on your top priorities every day, frequently. Make a decision to work on your goals every day. Decide that if it takes 10 years it takes 10 years, but this is your lifestyle now.

Also eliminate or seriously reduce distractions. For me: videos and these forums.



I have to journal every day and notice and appreciate any habit I kept or progress I made towards my goals. Otherwise I forget where I'm going. My attention gets swallowed up in the next shiny idea. I just started using 42goals.com and I think it's going to be invaluable for me.

[Savage]

20-somethings today are exposed to more advertising than at any other time in history. A lot of those marketing messages create false expectations by promising fast and easy "instant" results if you buy something.

There is an upside to this, however. 20-somethings also have more opportunities than ever. They actually can achieve success a lot faster than people in other generations by leveraging technology better, but it still takes time to develop this kind of skill.

Even if you think you can move ahead rapidly, it helps to maintain a long time perspective. It's hard to make progress along certain lines if you switch directions every 6-12 months. Some things just take time to build.

[Mounds]

Originally Posted by SatvikBeri

Every generation says similar things about the generation after it. I'm not saying it's completely incorrect-it's certainly possible that due to our new technology, younger people are more impatient-but when you look at history you'll see that the previous generation has been saying things about the next generation such as:

"They're taking on too much debt!"
"They're too promiscuous!"
"They're too impatient!"
"They have no morals!"

...for centuries, if not millenia.

Fair enough

[VinceG]

Originally Posted by SatvikBeri

Every generation says similar things about the generation after it. I'm not saying it's completely incorrect-it's certainly possible that due to our new technology, younger people are more impatient-but when you look at history you'll see that the previous generation has been saying things about the next generation such as:

"They're taking on too much debt!"
"They're too promiscuous!"
"They're too impatient!"
"They have no morals!"

...for centuries, if not millenia.

I do not believe this. I think this is a recent development. Modern life really is different from pre-modern life.

[NicoleNicki]

Originally Posted by James81

Good post. Definitely something I needed to hear right now.

It seems the theme of my life right now is sticking with something (maintaining focus) until completion. If I had to target my number one weakness it would be this ADD-esque flitting from idea to idea without seeing any of them through to completion.

I'm highly productive and efficient and action oriented. I can get **** done very quickly. I just need to develop an element of focus that keeps me on task longer.

Any suggestions?

@James 81 - Your mention of the ADD-esque flitting from idea to idea made me think of a book I've just started to read -- Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher. I'm only on the beginning pages, but her idea of setting up a Scanner Daybook, similar to one kept by Leonardo da Vinci, has been been a wonderful concept for me. If you are a 'Scanner' by the definition of this book, this Daybook may assist you. It's a way to capture all those ideas and your passion around them while still remaining focused on your main ideas. It's also a way to honor your ADD-style, while still making the kind of action-bias referenced in this article. Others on these forums have referenced this book and could probably provide more information as I'm just at the start of it, but very happy with the changes thus far as a result of me reading this book.

@Savage - Great article and one I needed to read, for a variety of reasons.

[newmark]

Originally Posted by VinceG

I do not believe this. I think this is a recent development. Modern life really is different from pre-modern life.

Modern life is always different from pre-modern life, and has been for a long time. But people aren't so different.

[secrets0stolen]

Interesting article

One way to avoid taking action is to lose focus. You come up with a cool idea, but instead of staying focused on it, you distract yourself from it. Instead of making the new idea a top priority, you switch your attention to something else. When you withdraw your focus from the new idea, the idea gets fuzzier. The initial enthusiasm fades. Your mental RAM gets overwritten by something else. Soon the cool idea is essentially forgotten.

Another way to avoid taking action is to talk yourself out of it. This requires shifting your focus to the anti-idea. What about this idea won’t work? Where might it lead to failure? What could go wrong? By shifting your focus to the anti-idea instead of the idea, you magnify problems instead of opportunities, so the idea becomes less attractive to you. Eventually you sense that the idea is probably more trouble than it’s worth, so you reject it.

Avoiding these practices, how do you know which ideas are worth your time? (especially if you have tons of ideas)

I know from experience these will often lead to inaction--perhaps too often--but how do you avoid wasting a bunch of time on something you figure out you don't want anyway?

[secrets0stolen]

Originally Posted by NicoleNicki

@James 81 - Your mention of the ADD-esque flitting from idea to idea made me think of a book I've just started to read -- Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher. I'm only on the beginning pages, but her idea of setting up a Scanner Daybook, similar to one kept by Leonardo da Vinci, has been been a wonderful concept for me. If you are a 'Scanner' by the definition of this book, this Daybook may assist you. It's a way to capture all those ideas and your passion around them while still remaining focused on your main ideas. It's also a way to honor your ADD-style, while still making the kind of action-bias referenced in this article. Others on these forums have referenced this book and could probably provide more information as I'm just at the start of it, but very happy with the changes thus far as a result of me reading this book.

That sounds like a fantastic book, I'll have to pick it up if I get a chance.

[run_fly]

Steve is right about the "20 somethings" quick and easy mentality, I have felt this in myself and I am consciously trying to shift to long term perspective. (Which feels more grounded, stable, and fun).

The quick and easy almost feels anxious because of all the marketing hype you feel pressured to finish quick in a business sense.

I still have it now - Reading this article amplified the truth of it in myself a bit more which is good. I know if I go deeper and review long term career goals that I could have a more grounded and stronger vision.

Thanks

[strawzombie]

Sheesh... after reading this article I managed to tumble down an "A.D.D. rabbit hole" FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS!

(A.D.D. rabbit hole: It's where you start with one tab open, then your browser somehow balloons out to 20+ tabs open (all MUST read), and then when you finally get back to that first initial tab you opened, you find that hours and hours have gone by and you can barely remember anything you just read!)

Epic Fail...

Anyways, this is all I have to show for it right now...

Harvard Business Review - Failing Toward Success at Google

Wired - Learning From Failure: Apple's Most Notorious Flops

ExpertReviews - Top 10 biggest Microsoft failures

The Google article is the best, IMO, since a lot of those failures I honestly never could have predicted.

[Alice Hive]

Just recently posted by Tim Ferriss:

The Non-Overnight Success: How Twitter Became Twitter

In the beginning I also thought I would succeed faster (I started being self-employed about 2.5 years ago) - now I'm actually overwhelmed by the pace! Honestely, I have to just slow down and breathe at the moment.

[jacare]

Steve,

I see a real maturity in this post. There is no talk of the subconscious, of controlling your thoughts, of vibration. I agree that action bias, and using the feedback loop is essential. And by the way, I think that controlling the subconscious, and controlling ones speech and thoughts is also very important. I'm in my 40's and it's only now that I've figured out business that takes me to another level. And that's from 6 years of running a software business, and struggling, and most importantly continuing to read and learn and apply new ideas. Believe it or not, it was reading a book "E-Myth" that took me to another level. I saw how to take a business and grow it by defining the roles, and hiring to the role, not to the person. And to stop being the business, but to work outside my business, and design my business as a repeatable system outside of me.

Anyways, it's good to read common sense advice that is true. So many people want things, and want them fast, and want them by "magic" and "belief", and not by taking actions, noticing the feedback, and adjusting their actions.

Another thing I see in a lot of people posting here, is they don't think big enough. They want to find "a dollar". They don't know that if they adjust their thinking to 1 Million dollars it's possible for everybody, you just have to take actions on a scale.

[gpnmxtx]

Great, Steve. This is what I need to do, taking more actions than just sitting there thinking.

[SarahLuvzYu]

I don't even...This is so brilliant Steve. I really really appreciate you writing this. I've been so inactive just sliding by, something happened & it kicked me off my track but I won't let it. I'm gonna get back on.

Even little things I won't act on, but I need to act on them because then it prepares me for the bigger things.

At the moment I'd say my long term commitment is university. Next year I start my double major which takes 4 years to complete (doing first year at the moment). Also saving up for my exchange to Germany in 2013. Also my fan blog.

Ahh wow I'm so nervous, like I'm on the edge of something. This is weird. Thank you so much.

[anamoly]

WARNING: Reading Steve's post may disrupt your day:

Here's my experience with that: I went to the gym as I usually do and I generally stick to my routine at the gym. Except now, aside from just noticing all the hot girls -- I noticed myself actively talking myself out of asking one out: "You don't want to be a creeper at the gym." "She's probably weird, despite being cute." Etc.

It was a seriously frustrating experience. I had a lot of inner turmoil, because I didn't really think I wanted to ask anyone out, but I kept obsessing about doing it because of "action bias."

Well, long story short, I resolved to ask this one girl I saw out with a Grateful Dead shirt who was doing ab exercises in front of me for a while. I do my last rep and ... low and behold..she's gone! I don't have to do this, phew! Okay, I get out of the gym..and ****, she's walking down. I pretty much go on auto pilot at this point and walk near her and say "Excuse me" (she's wearing headphones).

"Yes?" Now that she has said yes, I proceed to have sex with her. (Okay, that was my attempt at a joke -- here's how it actually went).

My dialogue went something like this:
"I'm only doing this because you're cute and I will regret it if I don't ask..I don't really care, anyway -- you want to come see this concert with me this Tuesday?"

"Tuesday? I have a final!"
"Oh, well how about some coffee sometime then?"
"Sure."
"Okay, want to take my number down? I don't have my phone on me."
*she takes my number down*
"What's your name?"
*we exchange names and shake hands*
*she asks me "Are you local?"
"Yes."
"Oh cool, me too."
"Okay cool, well text me if you want to get together after finals."
"Okay! Bye!"

So she hasn't texted me.. it's been about an hour. I doubt she will. BUT, I am glad I did this. Next time I think I can be more confident and it was a real big rush to do this..

It did make my work out a little tenser then usual! So read Steve's post at your own risk. It may mess with your head!!