Decisions VS Actions
By Joshua Barbosa Founder of Sakusen Do Ryu System
Three frogs were sitting on a log. One decided to jump into the pond. How many were left? Did you answer two? Think again. You see, I didn’t say one jumped in; I just said one DECIDED to jump in. It’s not a technical point that I’m debating, but a sad fact of life. For there’s a big difference between deciding to do something and actually doing it.
Year 2000 was very intense for me, I went to several seminars including one in Boston with Tony Robbins, in the end of his speech, someone screamed : Hey Tony, can I take you home with me so I don't forget to do these tasks! It was funny, Tony paused for a second and he said: all the techniques that you learn today is useless if you don't take action today, notice that he didn't say, you must DECIDE, THE WORD WAS, YOU MUST TAKE ACTION TODAY.
How many New Year resolutions did you decide to make that never came to pass? How many items on your To Do list have just been lingering there, but never brought to life?
A decision without ACTION is no more powerful than indecision or no decision. Decisions are powerless unless we follow through. And when we follow through with action, we will be greeted with success. In fact, the etymological meaning of “succeed” is “that which follows,” for success is what follows action.
Decisions without action are preparations for living without living. We need to act to experience life. We either make things happen or let things happen to us. Here’s how Edward Rickenbacker (1842 ~ 1914) expressed why follow through is important, “There’s a six-word formula for success: Think things through, then follow through.”
Some people live as though their life credo is “Ready, Aim. Aim. Aim .” But once a decision is made, it is time for action. For as Theodore Roosevelt (1858 ~ 1919) said, “In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” After all, if we do the wrong thing, at least we can learn something from our mistake. But inaction teaches us nothing, other than regret.
Often, the cause of inaction is the fear of failure. But isn’t it better to try to do something and fail than to try to do nothing and succeed? Consider for a moment the life of a lobster. When it grows to be about a pound, it faces a crisis. For it has grown too big for its shell. To continue living, it’ll have to shed its shell and grow a new one. But this takes about two days. So, until then, it remains vulnerable to attack and being eaten. Yet, there is no choice.
Get out of your comfortable zone and grow.
There is no secret formula to the riches, the internet is full of magic books and courses promising the next formula to success AND SO IS TRUE FOR MARTIAL ARTS ! Go buy a NIKE tennis shoe and the secret is right there on the box, ARE YOU CRAZY? NO....TAKE NIKE'S ADVICE : JUST DO IT
"If you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it'll spread over into the rest of your life. It'll spread over into your work, into your mortality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you."
BRUCE LEE