Deed – Effectiveness: Part One
Act on your awareness – Action
A difference between awareness and reality.
Having decided what you want (Intention) and the relevant current reality (Reality) you are now in a position to achieve a result through action. It always takes action to determine the quality of your awareness. That is why I say “act on your awareness” not “act on reality.” You must interact with reality physically to test the accuracy of your awareness.
Remember that Awareness refers to your Thought, what you are doing with your perceptions. Perception is input that needs to be interpreted by the brain which filters the input through your experience. Consider a mirage. Perceptually we see an image that looks real and is a certain distance away. Through experience, either personal or shared, we learn that it is an illusion created by atmospheric conditions and the reflection of light.
The limitations of thinking.
That is why you cannot think yourself into a situation. You can think about it as much as you want, consider all the angles, mull over all the possibilities, worry that mental bone until it is clean. But until you act nothing happens. It is only through action, through physical movement, that you affect a situation.
If you never act on your awareness you learn nothing and achieve nothing. It’s the difference between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. The difference between having read all the books and having been in the field for a number of years. It is the difference between knowing what you want and actually doing something about it.
The smallest action is infinitely more effective than the greatest intention. Intention is merely the goal. The difference between what you want and what you have gives you the route to your goal. You may think you know what it will take and action will let you know exactly what it will take.
The speed learning method.
Acting on your awareness is the quickest way to learn anything. How did you learn to ride a bike? By getting on a bike. How did you learn to drive? By getting into a car. How did you learn to read? By picking up a book. Instead of trying to figure out what it will require take action and you’ll learn as fast as humanly possible.
Even though the first attempts are going to be a far cry from the ultimate goal that is where you must start. No one springs from the womb and walks. We are all completely helpless at the start. Even crawling is months in the future. Let’s start small. Can you hold up your head? Not yet? Keep working at it.
Not your grandpa’s advice.
If it’s worth doing it’s worth doing badly. And it will be done badly, at first. Be willing to be awkward and clumsy. These blog entries of mine are a perfect example. I’ve never written for a blog before. I’m not sure if these should be entered as posts or if it would be better if I wrote them as pages. I’m not sure if the examples I use are appropriate. I don’t know if my point is getting across. In the end I know that even if I do this badly it’s worth doing because every day I am learning.
For example through my web surfing I learned that Firefox is recommended by many people. Why, I’m not sure. But I am using it right now and it has a spell check feature that works automatically. So no more spelling errors from this guy in these posts. Woo hoo! (Incidentally it just tagged “hoo” but not “woo.”)
So there you have my ode to action. It was really more of a tirade than an ode but you get the idea.
08.02.06 at 11:47
Hi Kojasa,
Your topic interests me greatly! I am self-employed, and finding it difficult right now. To sell my coaching & training services to businesses I need to make cold calls and seek appointments. I try to avoid this – resistance is present. I suppose this goes back to my self-esteem. I know all the theory but it’s not easy to apply it.
I do believe that a higher force gives me a leg-up when I take focused action re my intention. I’ve experienced several ‘coincidences’ over the past 4 years!
These days I struggle with the following. My intention is financial freedom and I seek to apply the Law of Attraction. However, in the short-term I am not able to keep a steady flow of work, and money is tight. I guess I will work this through… I seem to bring my life to new levels by getting myself into scarey situations like currently. This is how I motivate myself to make a leap!
08.02.06 at 12:20
hey, did anyone ever tell you how wonderful you really are? well, I just did!
08.02.06 at 20:03
Hi 0911workshop,
First, you’re outside your comfort zone. Good for you. That’s where the learning is, and the growth. Second, as far as the Law of Attraction – I probably hold a different view on this than you (see my post “Why self-control?” 08.01.26). When the Law of Attraction works it works for a different reason than you may think. This will be addressed when I write about the process of Acting As If. Third, please accept some suggestions regarding your call reluctance. Sales is the lifeblood of a business and if you are reluctant to hit the proverbial pavement it definitely can slow the flow of work. (Just so you know, I sold insurance door to door so I can relate to call reluctance.)
Something you might try is Intentional Questions to change your focus (see my post “How you direct your awareness” 08.01.29).
Just before the sales call try these: What do I really enjoy about these sales calls? Why am I so effective when I make cold calls? Why do my customers appreciate my calling on them?
After the sales call, whether it was a success or a learning experience, these might help: How am I getting better at this? What did I do well? What will I do better next time? What was great about that cold call?
If any of those questions seem too bold you can tone them down by substituting the word “could” or “might.” For example: What could I really enjoy about these sales calls? Why might my customers appreciate my calling on them?
You get the idea. Since you know the details of your situation you can come up with even more effective questions. The idea is to direct your awareness where it helps you not hinders you.
I’ll be getting more specific in application once I am done writing the basic introduction to the entire philosophy.