Too Much Talk… Not Enough Action.

So… I think I’m gonna get the bald man to develop a new little ‘motivational’ feature for the site.

It works like this: every time someone visits craigharper.com who hasn’t actually used (done something with, take action on) something that they’ve learned in their last five visits to our site, they will automatically receive a low voltage shock through their keyboard… not a 240 volt life-ender… just a little 6 or 12 volt tickle of the fingers…waddya think?
We all know fear’s a great motivator right?

…Waddya mean, no?
Aaah you guys… so predictable.
Alright back to the drawing board.
Perhaps a big hand that reaches out through the screen and shakes you by the…. Mmm, perhaps not.
Okay, leave it with me.

One of my biggest challenges and frustrations (if not the biggest) of my work is not providing people with the appropriate information, education, inspiration, direction, advice, feedback or support…. it’s actually getting them to stop thinking about it, talking about it, planning for it, fretting about it… and getting them to actually do something now.

Anything!
Like right now.
Getting people to consistently be pro-active (doers) is the hardest part of my job.

They’re always about to do it.
Never actually doing it…. but oh, so close.

When I do a corporate talk, no matter how great the presentation goes or how much positive feedback I get, I know that the majority of the people (who have all indicated during the session that they desire change in their life) won’t create any lasting change because they won’t use (consistently do something with) what they’ve learned (heard) during the presentation.
And this frustrates me because I’m not about their entertainment or amusement, I’m about positive change… a better life (whatever that is for them).
Yes, I want them to enjoy the ‘me’ experience but what I want more… is for them to stop talking about what they want in their life… and to start creating it.

I have a friend who is perpetually perusing sites such as this (he regularly reports in and gives me his rating on my latest post), always reading another life-changing book (books don’t change lives; people do) and continually listening to his favourite self-help gurus in the car.

He also attends somewhere between five and ten ‘change-your-life-forever’ or ‘become-a billionaire-by-next-Tuesday’ or ‘learn-how-to-become-financially-independent-by-selling-this-amazing-fat-burning-herb-from-the-Amazon’…. programs per year.

He’s intelligent, talented, and educated…. and he’s also fearful, lazy, rarely starts things, never finishes anything and is always ‘two inches’ away from some massive breakthrough.
Not.
If only he’d take his head out of his… new book, change his behaviour, get pro-active, plan less and do more (do anything, in fact), he’d be way closer to where he wants to be (if not already there).

But he doesn’t.
He talks about it.
A lot.
He’s full of crap, lies to himself and is delusional.
Am I being harsh?
No, honest.
He’s consumed more self-help literature in the last decade than is healthy and still he finds ‘reasons’ (excuses) to do nothing.

Yes, I’ve spoken to him about this post and no, he’s not offended or grumpy at me because I’ve told him all this in person.
He knows.
We all know.
Deep down.

Too many of us spend too much of our life stuffing around not doing the things we know we should. We talk about what we want and how we’re going to get it… we just never seem to do it.
We talk oursleves into innactivity.
We continue to find new and interesting reasons for not changing.

We delude ourselves that we’ll do it soon.. but for some very logical reason (of course) now… is never the time.
We know we’re full of it, those closest to us know it… but we get pretty good at living a lie.

We avoid change because we are fearful but at the same time, we never do anything to get strong (like making those decisions, taking risks, getting uncomfortable).
Ironically, it’s the change process (the one we avoid)… that makes us strong.
We’re smart, we’re informed, we’ve done the whole self-help thing… we even have the answers for our friends… but when it comes to us… we’re perpetually treading water and spinning our wheels.

So, here’s your challenge for today (or tomorrow, if it’s too late tonight):

Do something in the next twelve hours that you know you should have done before now.

Make a decision, take some action, change a behaviour, make a phone call, say sorry to someone, give up a habit…. do SOMETHING to create real change.

FOREVER change.

You’ve ‘almost’ done so many things, why not break the cycle now?
I know it’s probably not convenient, practical or easy now…. but perhaps it’s necessary.
Perhaps it will change your life.

Perhaps you will change your life.

Tony Robbins, Steven Covey, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Craig Harper or any ‘Coach’ will not change your life because ‘all’ they (we) do is provide information and inspiration (a good thing… but of itself, not enough).
It always comes down to doing (not knowing).
It always comes down to you.

Know that staying in the same situation, or moving towards amazing is a choice and right now you can choose different.
Or the same.
You can get up tomorrow with the same mindset, the same thinking and the same behaviours, making the same excuses (no, they’re not reasons) and do what you’ve always done or… you can think, do and be… different.

As I’ve said before; if nothing changes, nothing changes.
Tomorrow you can do what you’ve always done… and nobody will really take any notice… or you can be different.
You can create momentum right now.
If you choose.

Yes, the journey between where you are and where you want to be might not always be easy but the journey is where we develop the skills, strength and attitude to succeed and the rewards are incredible…

And if it’s ‘easy’ you’re after… then you best change your goal from amazing to average.

If it was easy to create amazing, everybody would do it.
It isn’t… and they don’t.

Will you?
Or will you just keep talking about it?

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