Monday, June 13, 2011

Just Do It

I hope I can use that title sentence without incurring the wrath of Nike.

Here's an axiom for you: an imperfect course of action is better than no action at all. A friend on Facebook shared the following quote from the blog leadershipfreak.wordpress.com :


I used to excuse my lack of doing with the comfort that I wanted to do something. Passionate sincere wanting without performance is, however, cheap, easy, and self-deluding.

Wanting to do something doesn’t mean much. I’d rather want less and do more.

Talking enhances the delusion of doing. When talking, if I’m not careful, I believe I’ve done something. Nothing could be further from the truth. Talking isn’t doing.

Perfecting things before doing them, in addition, is overrated. It’s better to perfect things while you do them. Most activities don’t require perfection. In the end, it’s the doing that matters.

When I do more and talk less, I want less too. Doing quiets empty wanting.
Jettison your empty dreams of making a difference. Toss out cheap self-delusions and go perform an imperfect act of service. Lift someone. Find a small way to put your dream into action.

Do something; stand on it and do something again. What you do makes a difference not what you want to do.


Can you relate to this? I know I can. I've seen this in workplaces, schools, churches, families, and of course, myself. There is always a temptation to put something off until you are better at it, or have more time, or the stars are properly aligned, or something. It seems we always are able to find some reason why we can't do something right now. And yes, I've heard plenty of self-delusional talking. I've been in churches that talked about being outreach oriented even though they had not made a significant attempt at engaging their community in twenty years. I think they sincerely liked the idea of being outreach oriented, but actual community involvement would have taken a more proactive effort.

Imagine how our personal lives and the institutions we are involved with would change if we adopted this attitude.

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