Organizational psychologist at Wharton, #1 NYT bestselling author of HIDDEN POTENTIAL and THINK AGAIN, and host of the TED podcasts WorkLife and Re:Thinking
The 8th habit of highly effective people: They don’t spend all their time reading about the 7 habits of highly effective people. Extended reflection without action is a form of procrastination. Doing is a catalyst for thinking and learning. Illustrated by Janis Ozolins
Going from idea to action is a huge step for most people.
Reflection without action is at best contemplation or at worst rumination
Creative and critical thinking happen during times of procrastination, producing great, innovative ideas, but I wouldn’t describe procrastination as always being a feel good period. It can be exacerbated by outside influence and outside/internal expectation which invites anxiety that must be processed. It is like life, a calm and sometimes chaotic dance with multiple cognitive and emotional processes happening in the same moment. Starting ideas without initial review to produce some beginning element often helps in moving through it, but it is different each time, depending on the factors involved. I tend to see creative, deep thinkers, or those under intense pressure wrestle with it more, as they push to act on less than understood outside circumstance or subject information. Knowing we have to act on what we have in the moment, even when uncertain of the holistic end, is key to moving out of that space.
The difference between doing and not doing is Dopamine (a.k.a. your brain's motivation neurotransmitter.) Dopamine is used for reward/pleasure-seeking behavior. If you want to clean the kitchen, you need dopamine to get you started. If you want to eat a bag of chips, you need dopamine to get you started. Most people choose the chips because its easier and its pleasurable but now you've used up your dopamine and can no longer be motivated to clean the kitchen. The difference between doing and not doing is misplaced Dopamine.
While action is crucial, Covey's original 7 Habits already emphasize this. 'Be Proactive' and 'Put First Things First' are all about initiative and prioritization. One of the things we can learn here is that often, the answers we need are already there, but we create solutions to problems that don't exist. It's like calling technical support before checking if the device is plugged in. :)
Love this post! I can certainly get caught in the circle of learning more rather than implementing the learning :) Does it only have to do with procastination or there’s some link with imposter syndrome? Would love to know what you think Adam Grant, Shashank Bhushan Ashu Khanna Kendra Reddy Gopal A Iyer Steve Correa Stacey Olson, CPPC
This is often a problem because there is minimal risk with learning and thinking. What separates someone that achieves goals and someone who doesn’t is the willingness to accept some level of risk. Risk is associated with doing. Failure, pain, disappointment, and negative feedback are just a few things someone who decides to “do” may have to face. Yet - here’s the hidden blessing… the more you do, the more you learn. The more you learn, the better you get at doing. The better you get at doing, the more risk you mitigate. The more risk you mitigate, the greater your chances of success. So yes - doing is the catalyst for everything. Start moving.
I have been using a system for a while that I refer to as 'collect-reflect-react'. It's pretty simple; you collect data on the things you care about, reflect on that data, and run experiments to improve the data. Then repeat.
Action also starts to relieve the stress you get from overthinking.
Executive Coach with strong academic foundations in Futures Studies and Applied Ethics
5 个月We live in a world that over values doing. From my perspective there’s more time spent in the 3rd block and not enough balance between all 3. I find that many expensive salvage operations happen because we fail to properly apply our minds to the demanding tasks of critical thinking. Too often, instead of working through scenarios and implications ahead of time, we working through avoidable consequences in real time.