If you really want to do something, you do it. You don't save it for a sound bite.
- Liz Friedman
A friend of mine said something similar many years ago, as a realization he'd had:
"I realized that you either talk about doing something, or you do it."
And it fits with my observations. I think we all know people who are full of great plans, and talk about them at great length. But ten years go by, and none of those things have actually gotten done. And then there are people who actually get things done, sometimes remarkable things, and you rarely hear them talk about these things a lot before they happen.
And of course the same divide can happen inside one person, not only between people. You talk or you do, but rarely both. I'm not sure of the causal relationship. Maybe either talking or doing gets rid of the energy of interest you have in something, so if you are doing it, the need for talking disappear, and if you talk about it a lot, the need for doing it disappear. Maybe. Or maybe if you want to do something and it just isn't happening, but you can't really face up to that fact because you have too many hopes riding on it, you start yapping about it to prop yourself up to yourself.
Maybe talking is a way of looking for affirmation that you can do it. Maybe you just always lack the confidence to commit, and are always seeking guidance.
ReplyDeleteI know I have some projects I talk about when I am inspired, but by the time it comes to commit I find I am lacking one or more of the key resources - time, cash, space.
That's why my only project that is working is my photo blog. Now I have a camera and PC access, it just takes 1/2 hour at a time to shoot, and 1/2 an hour at a time to blog, and it all fits in the trunk of my car. No space, no time and no cash required.
Yoda and Mr. Miyagi said pretty much the same thing.
ReplyDelete"I realized that you either talk about doing something, or you do it."
ReplyDeleteI can see why you're friends with him. He's about as stupid as you are. How did the two of you ever find each other?
The slow kids camp. It's three weeks of intensive training for kids who haven't yet managed to find the square hole for the square peg.
ReplyDeleteEven though you're joking that's probably not far off.
ReplyDeleteThe world and people being what they are, in my life I've been called many, many things. But until you came along, nobody had *ever* called me stupid. It's really refreshing, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI find that kind of hard to believe, and I also can't believe I'm the only one here to have thought so. I can't be the only to have noticed that you rarely understand anything - for example you often post quotes from famous people and ask others to explain to you what they mean. I guess some of the time I could be confusing laziness and stupidity. You can't deny you're one of the laziest people on Earth. Maybe that has to do with being Danish. Welfare states breed that kind of person.
ReplyDelete