The Art of Taking Action

Morita Therapy is grounded on the central theme that our thoughts and feelings ARE NOT (!) within our direct control. They’re much more like passing clouds in the sky of our minds.

Sometimes weird thoughts pop up. That’s just how it is.

Recognizing the fact that we aren’t directly responsible for every.single.thought that shows up in our minds, we accept them.

And then, very importantly, we focus on what we DO have control over: Our behavior.

When we do that, we can cultivate the ability to take effective action *regardless* of how we feel—which, of course, is the mark of a healthy, highly-functioning human being.

I’ve often said that David Reynolds’s Constructive Living is the best little book you’ve never heard of. Here’s how he puts it (see Notes): “Our behavior is controllable in a way that our feelings are not. There is a very special satisfaction for the Artist of Living who works within life’s limits to produce a fine self-portrait. The more control we develop over our actions, the more chance we have of producing a self we can be proud of.”

Arambhashura.

To be a hero in the beginning. That’s one of my new favorite words.

Here’s how Eknath Easwaran (one of my absolute favorite teachers!) puts it in his meditation classic, Conquest of Mind (see Notes on that plus his translations of The Bhagavad Gita and The Dhammapada): “In Sanskrit we have a word which means “heroes at the beginning”: people who take up a job with a fanfare of trumpets but soon find that their enthusiasm has tiptoed down the back stair. Those who go far in meditation are the ones who keep on plugging. They may not be very spectacular; they may never hear a trumpet. But they keep on trying day in and day out, giving their best in every situation and relationship, never giving up. Such people are bound to reach their goal.”

Do you often start ALL (!) FIRED (!) UP (!!!) only to tip-toe out the back door the moment it gets a little boring?

All good. I’ve mastered that as well, but we want to notice that tendency and KNOW (!!!) that our excitement is ABSOLUTELY going to wane every.single.time we start a new habit.

We need to quit being surprised by that and be prepared to handle the inevitable boredom of the plateau like a MASTER—continuing to show up diligently, patiently and persistently as we wink at the old version of ourselves that would have bailed once the buzz wore off.

There are few things I’m more excited about these days than my absolute recognition of this reality. I literally rub my hands together with glee (hah!) when I see how a practice has gotten boring.

Then I show up and rock it again. And again. And again. Knowing THAT is what it’s all about. :)

Remember: We want to be heroes at the END not the beginning. So, how about you? Any areas of your life to which you can rub some anti-arambhashura cream?! :)

Love it.

We talked about a nearly identical idea in our Note on Mini Habits. Here’s how Stephen Guise puts it: “Newton’s first law states that…

1. An object at rest will stay at rest unless an external force acts upon it.
2. An object that is in motion will not change its velocity unless an external force acts upon it.

Can you see how this relates? Once you take the first step, you are officially in motion. You will find as I have, that once you get started it is almost as hard to stop as it is to keep going. Add to this that nothing is more motivating and inspiring than seeing yourself take action. Put it together and we get a new equation:

One small step + desired behavior = high probability of further steps.”

We want to really get this. The hardest part of getting some momentum in *anything* is to simply GET STARTED.

We don’t need to commit to 3 hours of writing. We just need to write the first sentence. We don’t need to do a 60-minute workout. We can start with one push up. We don’t need to fill-in-the-blank-huge-thing. We can start with fill-in-the-blank-micro-action.

What’s your “big” thing you’re having a tough time getting some momentum on?!

What super-simple micro action can you take to get in action?!

I often get stalled on: ____________________________

I’ll take this super-simple micro step next time I get stalled: ________________________.

(Awesome. Let’s do this! :)

At the end of the book, Gregg walks us through how to defeat a number of what he calls “inaction demons” including fear, indecision, discouragement, perfectionism, television (yes, television!), boredom and difficulty.

That quote is obviously from a chapter all about helping us battle the indecision demon.

Have you ever been stymied by indecision?

(Laughing but if you’re human and don’t answer “yes” to that I’m not sure what to say. :)

Rather than loop thoughts over and over and over again in our head, Gregg suggests we simply take the next baby step.

He tells us: “We can’t figure out life in our minds. Life is resolved through life itself.”

I just love the vision of the ripples we create once we take action. As we move forward—however tentatively and in whatever direction—life responds. We get more information that we can use to optimize our approach.

Are you stuck in any indecision right now? Remember there’s no such thing as a “right” decision. Just put on your lab coat and experimenter’s goggles as you take the next step.

Ready. Fire. Aim.

Let’s go create some ripples.

Gradualism.

It took MILLIONS of years for Harriet and her cousins to adapt to their environments in such different ways.

Now, we don’t need to take quite that long to create change in our lives but it begs the question:

How do you approach change in your life?

Do you try to snap your fingers and instantly change something big in your life?

That’s one way to do it. And, of course, there are times when big changes stick once we’ve made a significant shift—provided we continue doing the new behaviors.

But a much better strategy is to go for the gradual, incremental change.

In Japan, this is known as <em="">kaizen. The word literally means “improvement” but generally refers to the process of small, CONSISTENT changes OVER TIME. That type of constant and continual improvement leads to *huge* results.

Darren Hardy captured the magic of this process in his great little book The Compound Effect (see Notes) where he tells us: “By the end of this book, or even before, I want you to know in your bones that your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult daily disciplines compounded over time. Know, too, that the results, the life, and the lifestyle of your dreams can be yours when you put the Compound Effect to work for you. If you use the principles outlined in the The Compound Effect, you will create your fairy-tale ending.”

And, Jeff Olson describes the same basic process as The Slight Edge (see those Notes). Here’s how he puts it: “The things that take you out of failure and up toward survival and success are simple. So simple, in fact, that it’s easy to overlook them. Extremely easy to overlook them. It’s easy to overlook them because when you look at them, they seem insignificant. They’re not big, sweeping things that take huge effort. They’re not heroic or dramatic. Mostly they’re just little things you do every day and that nobody else even notices. They are things that are so simple to do—yet successful people actually do them, while unsuccessful people only look at them and don’t take action.

Things like taking a few dollars out of a paycheck, putting it into savings, and leaving it there. Or doing a few minutes of exercise every day—and not skipping it. Or reading ten pages of an inspiring, educational, life-changing book every day. Or taking a moment to tell someone how much you appreciate them, and doing that consistently, every day, for months and years. Little things that seem insignificant in the doing, yet when compounded over time yield very big results. You could call these ‘little virtues’ or ‘success habits.’ I call them simple daily disciplines. Simple productive actions, repeated consistently over time. That, in a nut shell, is the slight edge.”

And, a couple thousand years before Darwin or Gregg, the Buddha captured it beautifully as well: “Little by little a person become evil, as a water pot is filled by drops of water… Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water.”

Any goals that you need to bring a little kaizen gradualism to?

This is a great little exercise.

In any given challenge, some things are controllable and, of course, some things are not. Here’s the key thing to know: The primary things that are OUT of your control are the RESULTS of your actions. Your EFFORTS are within your control. The results are *not*!!

For example, let’s say you’re looking for a job. You do not have control over whether you get a certain job or even how quickly you get a job. You do, however, have absolute control over how you approach the whole process—what you DO.

Searching for great potential opportunities. Reaching out to friends for ideas and support. Polishing your resume, drafting awesome cover emails/letters/videos/whatever. You can control the level of little + massive, diligent and persistent action you take.

And, of course, by focusing on that, you influence the likelihood of getting the outcome you’re looking for. Same rules apply to EVERYTHING you may want. What do you want? What’s within your control? What’s not? What’s the next baby step you can take?

That’s the book in a nutshell.

Rather than avoid or distract ourselves from unpleasant feelings, we simply need to notice them, recognize and accept them as an inherent part of the process, take a deep breath and then do what needs to get done. Over and over and over again.