My problem is that I think too darn much. I think about doing productive things more then I actually do productive things. The key is to do, without thinking. The more mechanical my habits, the more I do the correct things without having to analyze them to death. I think about how to do it, why I am doing it, when to do it, if I should do it. When really, I just need to freaking do it.
If you let yourself, you will talk yourself into doing or not doing all sorts of destructive things. Stop thinking just do the right thing. You see, you already know what you should do. You just need to do it. You already know what the right things are to eat, eat them. You already know that you need to be more active, so be more active. You keep thinking too much. Not just about your health, this applies to your job, to your family, and even to your faith.
Think causes you to also mess up how you do things. You put too much thought into it and you get all tensed up, worried, stressed, focused on some minutia. Better is to just do, then the mechanical process will kick in, the muscle memory will take over and you will just naturally do what you are going to do. There is always time to think – most of us probably struggle with too much thought. Just do.
The funny thing is that you think you need to think about it more, but in reality you need to do the opposite. Stop thinking about it and just do it. The more you just do it, and think about it less, the more automatic you will become. Automation is the key to success, not your desire to think it through, or analyze it again, or consider the outcomes. Just do, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Now you can analyze the results of your doing and then make conscious decisions on that to alter or change. That is different. You are actually thinking about your results, that is much better then thinking about getting results that you have not got yet because you keep thinking yourself out of doing them!
You are NOT going to create the perfect system. You are NOT going to think your way into a better way. The only way to find a better way, or to invent a good system is by doing. It is when you are on the path of doing the work that you will find the best way to become more efficient at the work. This is why the best inventions are usually by people or companies that were working on the very problem that the invention solved for.
This is probably the hardest lesson that a smart person has to learn. You get better by doing, not by thinking. Your best thinking happens while you are doing, so stop making excuses and just do. No think, do.
Guy Reams
365 Alumni
46 Days Left
