The Thought/Action Debate

by 28 replies
32
Both are important aspects of the success equation.

Which do you feel is more vital? Which do you struggle with?

From my experience acting is relatively easy. Thought is the toughest thing on earth. By thought I mean sustained, consecutive thought. Directing your thoughts toward a particular goal in the face of circumstances which might not appear to conform to your goal is a difficult task until it becomes habitual.

Go getters often forget the thought component. They rush to get something, and their hurry pushes it away. Some forget entirely where they are going or what they are getting.

Mental scientists have a clear and definite vision. They believe it's theirs, but never move into action on their vision. They never get what they want because you can receive only by acting. Thoughts brings whatever it is that you want, and by acting you receive it.

What do you guys think?

-- Ryan Biddulph
#mind warriors #debate #thought or action
  • I think that thought is more vital. Action needs to be the *correct* action for it to bring the results we want. If it's the wrong action, it's totally worthless... so the thought needs to be perfected after which the right action can be put into play.
  • I hear you Katharin.

    Effective acting if predicated on proper thinking. Being in a rush to get things done, or doing the wrong things are both the product of inaccurate thinking.

    The more accurate a thought, the more appropriate an action and better result.

    Ryan Biddulph
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • It goes like this.

    Thoughts->Feelings->Actions
  • well, at least according to the wisdom traditions I studied, as well as my own experience, it actually goes feeling > thought > action, and in my experience the most functional way to go about it is using your intuition, which is perceived as a feeling on the cellular level, to chose what goal is most fully in alignment with your highest self-expression and the highest good of all affected, then to be in the feeling of what you are intending to create, which will cause you to think thoughts that are in alignment with that goal and when those thoughts ask for action, you take determined action, but coming from a place of being anchored in the feeling of alignment of thought-word-action, which is that shiver up your spine, goosebumps and uncontrollable excitement...
  • Sometimes too much thought paralyzes action, generally I have more ideas than I take action on.
  • Interesting FFAlliance, from what I have studied the process is Thought > Feeling - Action.

    I pick thoughts which create images, which generate feelings which cause me to move into certain actions.

    Whatever works for you, as I always say.

    Ryan Biddulph
  • Ya, if the feeling came first...what generated the feeling?

    A thought, right?
  • That's what I thought, but there are many different schools of thought on the thought/feeling thing, of feelings about the thought.feeling thing

    RB
    • [1] reply
    • FFAlliance makes a good point. Why do we bother thinking or doing the things we do?

      We are aiming ourselves towards a specific feeling. Generally, people don't work solely for the money. What we are after is the feeling of freedom. The feeling of security that comes from running a successful business.

      Personally I tend to over-think things. I don't rely enough on feelings and intuition. I'm trying to change this so that I can take more action.

      In the end - all of the thinking in the world won't get you anywhere without action. So, they need to be coupled in a way that makes sense. Thinking, acting and feeling should be unified for optimal performance.
  • According to Vipassana meditation, this was the final enlightenment of the Buddha. In many wisdom traditions it is believed that our senses perceive any given situation and then our mind reacts to the situation with either some degree of attachment or repulsion, which than causes emotional suffering. This means suffering is created by circumstances we encounter, which is why the whole meditate in a cave for a few decades and deprive yourself of any tempting environments blabla came about. According to the Buddha, there was a step missing inn that chain, which is that based on the sensatory input, a feeling response arises in every cell of our bodies and that feeling is what our mind reacts to with craving or repulsion, putting the cause of our suffering inside of us and therefore in our control, for learning to perceive and observe these feelings as what they are, naturally deminishes our minds interpretation of them and begin "seeing things the way they are, not the way we want them to be".

    So according to this, the underlying feeling that arises inside of us at any point determines our thoughts, unless we are fully aware of it.

    Also, ask yourself what your own experience seems to show. If you are happy for whatever reason, do you not tend to only think positive thoughts? yet, if you're in a bad mood, does just making yourself think positive thoughts really change that? In my experience, the feeling are the control switch, not the thoughts...
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I meant to reply to this a couple weeks ago, sorry for the late bump.

    Action is almost always better, because it means you actually did something. If the goal is to sell apples, and we can think about it or we can act on it, even action without a great plan is pretty good. Literally walking door to door with a box of apples at least gives you a chance to sell some, even though it's clearly not a great plan.

    I know a lot of people who have made very creative, intricate plans for various things, and then take no action. They got busy, distracted, etc.... and nothing ever came of it.

    A good plan today is better than a great plan tomorrow, but taking action is usually better than either.

    -Brett
  • Feelings are indeed responses to perceptions (or thoughts), and feelings then motivate to action, whether or not the action is taken--since between feeling and action, thoughts can easily intrude. Not that that's a bad thing: It is best to judge your feelings and think through the action rather than going off "half-cocked" based purely on one's emotions.
    • [1] reply
    • I think it depends on how you perceive experience.

      Some people think first, then feel.

      Some feel first, then think.

      The first type, typically won't do something unless they can undestand it first.

      The second type will, and enjoys figuring things out as they go along.

      I think ultimately the challenge is that most people in IM are typically the first type. And in my experience, most people in the IM community (this forum especially) have yet to make their first sale online.

      So it seems the answer is action...
  • It seems much depends on the person. If I had to make a choice, I would
    go with a preponderance toward action, even if it's not fully thought out or
    well-planned.

    Granted, much can happen that could be less than desired with ill-planned
    action. But, again it depends on the person because even if something doesn't
    go quite right, which often happens, then a certain kind of person will just use
    that point to figure it out and keep moving forward.

    A certain kind of person will just keep taking action, learning as forward
    movement happens, taking things as they come, adjusting, and keep moving
    forward toward a goal.

    I think that's much more powerful than the thought scientist who proceeds
    with more caution and perhaps trepidation, etc.

    Ken
  • They're equal in importance - 50/50

    Without thoughts, you wouldn't know what action to take. But those thoughts would be worthless without taking any action.

    Think off it as making a cake. Thought is mixing all the ingredients, action is putting it in the oven. If you want to make a cake, you need both.
  • A while back I watched a Tony Robbins video and he explained the process where we would visualize our success has a three sided process. We first take action, the actions produce a result, and the results produced a mindset (self image, confidence). The mindset produces more actions, which produce more results, and so on.
  • Action to me is most important.

    I am a thinker - I love to think out a solution, think out a plan, think out new ideas.

    But, then once the thinking is done...

    I need to take action. That is where I falter.

    I need a staff of people to act on all of my thoughts.
  • Great stuff here.

    Sometimes people mistake Thinkers as people who don't take Action.

    No way! You need to act as part of the receiving process. It's just that thinkers rarely engage in mindless activity which the majority is prone to do. I sometimes get caught up in "Paralysis By Action", a less benevolent PBA. It involves rushing through the day, doing what *needs to get done* or *has to get done* and in my panic, not taking a step back from action and figuring out if what I am doing is effective. It's like my ability to think critically has been temporarily paralyzed by the non-stop action which I take.

    Mindlessness is an epidemic and saying that you move into action consistently doesn't cure it.

    Move into plenty of action after thinking about why you are acting. You save yourself plenty of time, headaches and wasted effort by doing this.

    This was an eye-opening process for me. Continues to be as I practice turning off the computer and thinking deeply about my actions and if they are effective.

    Ryan Biddulph
  • Actually Feelings => Thoughts
    AND Thoughts => Feelings

    A smell can create a thought of a past event
    as can a sound, as can touching something
    as can linking with someone else's feelings
    But also
    A negative thought can generate negative feelings

    So Feelings <=> Thoughts
  • Thought and actions should be the Parallel Rails of your success Train,to reach the Destiny. Taking Action on your focused thought is a definite way to attain your Goal
    Be the Best..
    Rueben
    • [1] reply
    • Thought and Action - both are equally important, both adding strength and meaning to each other. Which leads to a Result that makes life what it is.

      And this only works only if they are in alignment with each other.
  • Equal it is important to take action, but thinking is where great plans are developed. When both are firing on all cylinders you will be most productive.
  • You're right in that both are vital to success but I think this little maxim holds true...

    "Thought before action, whenever possible...."
  • I personally believe that it is a combination of the two that really leads to success.

    Thought in the form of visualization makes your mind go to the universe and search for the method/plan that will give you the result.

    Your mind is more of a search engine for ideas from the universe/GOD. It searches for the idea.

    But you need to search consistently and regularly. Think of it as Windows Search - Not all of it is indexed. But with more searches on the exact same term, more accurate results you get.

    And the other thing ACTION is extremely vital. Visualization is difficult. Action is just getting out of the inertia and doing something.

    You need to know how to balance both.
  • Both are critical... I'm much more of a thinker than a doer... I can't really imagine not thinking!
  • The real question here is what activates a thought and causes it to spark an action. People think about things that they don't act on all the time, aka procrastination. Actions create a lot more energy than thoughts and if you direct your actions right, they'll influence your thinking. Far easier to take that approach than trying to think your way into taking action.
  • I can delegate a months-worth of work to someone in 20 seconds. But that work will only be useful if I've thought through what I want to get done.

    It stands to reason that thought is far more valuable than actions - there are examples all around us. Lawyers get paid more than construction workers.
  • OK Bob, let's get started.

    The above link takes you to the Diagrigm of Life, the Master PictoGrigm in my Square One Workshops.

    These have been posted for over a decade, and back in the day, when I used them to help people achieve whatever goals they wanted...they served as great reference points.

    What is a feeling? Can you feel without thought? Is pain a thought? But then, can't pain be eliminated by blocking that area of the brain which says it is pain?

    Anyhow, you'll find thought and action are connected. There isn't much new in the way of scientific discoveries of how these things work.

    You take control of the neural pathways, reinforce with sensory stimuli all while, daily, going along your life path.

    If you have any questions about the SQ1 and the relationship between thoughts, feelings and actions, please post.

    Otherwise, be like a child, and learn from some simple drawings at the SQ1.

    Gordon J. Alexander
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed