Here’s a scenario: You feel stuck in a circumstance. Could be a job, a relationship. Whatever it is you know something needs to change but you’re paralyzed by uncertainty. So you wait. You think. You research. And nothing changes.

Meanwhile, the people who are moving forward, who are making decisions and taking action, are learning things you never will. They’re discovering what works, what doesn’t, and most importantly, who they actually are.

Hey there. It’s me, Kore. And you’re listening to Exercising Self-Control: From Fitness To Flourishing.

Thinking vs Doing

Here’s the key distinction: there’s a universe of difference between Thinking Choice and Enacted Choice.

* Thinking Choice happens only in your head. You imagine doing something. You might even plan it out mentally, visualizing success, but nothing physically changes.

* Enacted Choice requires action. It’s physically observable. It could be recorded. It’s when you actually do the thing. That’s the moment of actually making the choice.

And this matters because you learn best through action and experience.

Why Speed Matters

When you make decisions quickly, you get feedback faster. You discover whether your choice was right or wrong in real time, not in theory. That feedback is invaluable.

Consider this: if you’re trying to get fit, you might spend months researching the perfect workout program. You read articles, watch videos, talk to friends. But until you actually start exercising, you haven’t learned anything about what works for you specifically.

So you pick a program and commit to it for three weeks. It’s brutal. You hate it. You quit.

That’s not failure, that’s data. Now you know that program doesn’t work for you. So you try something different. It’s better but still not quite right. You adjust again. This one clicks into place. You’re consistent, you’re seeing results, and you even look forward to the workouts.

Those first two you tried? They weren’t a waste of time. You learned something real. You initially tried them because you imagined they’d work for you. It was only taking action that revealed the truth.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

The Risk Calculus

Now, not all decisions are equal. Some choices will make a permanent mark in your life, so to speak.

You need to think clearly about any potential permanent downside. When the potential downside could be serious (e.g. complications from an elective surgery) you must understand the consequences and select the one that’s most consistent with your highest values and most important goals.

Even in these more serious circumstances only action will reveal the result.

But here’s the thing: most decisions in life have minimal irreversible consequences. Trying a new exercise program, a new job, a new approach are generally experiments from which you can recover if they don’t go well. You may lose some time, some money, some other opportunities but you gain experience. That’s an investment, not a cost.

Compare that to staying stuck. Staying stuck is the real cost. Now you’re spending the same time but learning nothing new.

The Task

Here’s the takeaway: stop waiting for certainty. You’ll never reach certainty by trying to think your way to realizing any of your goals.

The next time you’re facing a decision with no serious downside, make it quickly. Take action. See what happens. Learn from the result. Adjust and try again.

This is how effective people operate. Not because they’re smarter or luckier but because they’ve accepted that action is the only real teacher. They’ve learned to make choices quickly, fail fast, and move forward.

Now it’s your turn. What’s one thing you’ve been thinking about doing but haven’t started. Make the choice by doing it this week. And if you feel so inclined, let me know what you learned.

That’s it for today. Catch you next time.

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