The Process of Personal Transformation: Action - Don't Just Stand There ...

As The Nike Commercial Says - Just Do It

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"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” - Herbert Spencer

Taking Action

“Well, don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!”

We have all heard that before, but it points to a great truth. You can have all the education in the world, yet be a total failure. All because you don't act on what you know.

The world is full of brilliant bums and educated fools.

You may be asking, “So what do I actually DO? What are the steps I should be taking to change my life?” Just by asking questions, you are taking the first step.

The Apostle James tells us in no uncertain terms that learning is not enough.

Be ye DOERS of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. - James 1:22

Notice James’ choice of words – That if we do not act on what we learn and know, then We are the ones being deceived by thinking that learning and knowing is enough.

If we do not act on what we learn, we tend to forget it. It's gone. How many times has a great idea popped into your mind and then a little while later, you cannot even remember what it was and you say, “I wish I had written that down”?

In previous posts, we looked at the importance of the role of Education (knowledge, wisdom, understanding) in personal transformation. We looked at the fact that everything starts in the mind, in our imagination. Whatever we find ourselves doing, we think it first.

• If we fail, we fail in our minds first.

• If we succeed, we succeed in our minds first.

• If we want to change a habit, the change takes place in our minds first.

With all due respect to the power of our imagination, however, many never make the transition from mind to matter. The mental picture they have of themselves and their potential never gets translated into action. There is a phrase we use about someone like this.

“That person lives in a Dream World.”

We all, probably, have someone who comes to mind that this describes.

A renewed mind should produce action because action is what solidifies transformation. To replace old habits with new ones, it is essential that we not only cease the old but also practice a new habit in its place. Jesus had some very practical teachings on this:

Luke 11:23-26 records the story of someone who rids himself of “an unclean spirit” - for our purposes, let's call it a “bad habit” or addiction. The problem arose when he failed to replace the bad habit with a good one, and therefore he fell right back into the same “familiar” pattern. But, notice the difference this time - It became reinforced through this process and the person ended up in a far worse condition than before. Verse 26 ends this way:

“…the last state of that man is worse than the first.” - Luke 11;26

James Clear, in his excellent book, Atomic Habits, says “You don’t eliminate a bad habit, you replace it.”

Failure to do that reinforces the bad habit, which then becomes even worse. We see that a lot with individuals trying to break drug use habits.

Here is what Clear says about ACTION:

"Inspiration comes on the twenty-fifth attempt (figuratively speaking), not the first. If you want to make something excellent, don't wait for a brilliant idea to strike. Create (take ACTION) twenty-five of what you need and one will be great. Inspiration reveals itself after you get the average ideas out of the way, not before you take the first step."

It is by taking action that things change. And not just once. It is a continuous process - a way of life.

A renewed mind should produce action because action is what solidifies transformation. Our circumstances can only change for good when our actions are such that make the change permanent.

This is why so many women (and some men) who live in abusive relationships end up right back where they came from. They know what they must do to end the relationship, but because they don't take full action to position themselves so that they cannot go back, they end up returning to their “comfortable misery” and their end state is usually much worse than before.

Action Requires Risk

An example of action vs. inaction is found in Mt. 25:14-26. Two of the individuals in this story willingly risked failure by taking action and were duly rewarded. The third individual, however, was afraid to take the risk of action. Ironically, he was rewarded as well – with punishment and loss. Now, today no one is going to punish us in the same harsh way, but we will be punished nonetheless, through an unfulfilled life of “comfortable misery”.

Let’s put this into practical terms. Life is like purchasing a pair of new leather hiking boots. If not conditioned properly, new hiking boots tend to be painful and rub blisters on your heels. They need to be “conditioned” to soften them up which takes a lot of work. You think this is too much trouble, so you decide to let them sit in your closet until they are broken in.

We all see the silliness in this, yet this is exactly what many of us do with our lives. We expect the desired change will just happen, without pain or effort.

The reality is the exact opposite - Unless we change our philosophy take action, our lives will just “sit in the closet” forever.

The legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi is credited with saying,

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

“OK, I'm getting the picture” you may be saying, “but what is it I'm supposed to DO?”

Great question! This is why education (knowledge, wisdom, and understanding) both precedes and interacts with action.

As we have seen in previous posts on Education, the first goal of transformational education is to learn everything you can about yourself: your Passions, your Potential, and your Personality type (be honest about this one).

The second goal is to map out a path or plan of action. As Shakespeare's quote “To thine own self be true” implores that you live your life according to who YOU are, and how YOU are made, not someone else's vision of who you should be.

Proverbs 22:6 tells us that if we “train up a child in the way should go, when he is old will not depart from it.” Notice it says “in the way he SHOULD go”, not in the way we want him to go. It refers to a child's individual tenor or “bent”. Our job is not only to train children to be respectful and diligent in their endeavors but also to observe their individual leanings and then help and encourage them to map out a path.

Early on, we begin to see the individual character traits of a child. Each one is different. Different personalities. Different temperaments. Different interests. Different skills and abilities. It is our responsibility as parents to encourage children on a path that takes full advantage of how they are made.

The rub lies in the fact that so many of us (or our parents) do not understand this. Therefore, we spend our whole lives trying to fulfill a misguided application of this concept – that our children are to be trained according to the way we think they should go.

I know parents who, selfishly, try to live out their own lives through their children. We see that particularly in the sports world. It usually produces arrogant or rebellious children.

Many may also be hindered from pursuing their dreams by the dictates of social, class, or cultural parameters as well. Passion, potential, and personality never seem to enter the equation. Hence, millions of people live dull, miserable, unfulfilled lives.

Make a Plan

For those of us who have traveled quite a few miles on the road of life, it is not too late. We don’t have to settle for “comfortable misery”. But we must understand action is imperative. The window will not stay open forever.

We must start with a plan and that will be our focus in next week’s post.

Until then, my friends - Happy Sailing …

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