Taking Action

In today’s day and age the lifestyle of the entrepreneur is more romanticized than ever. We all have been inundated by dreams of quitting our mundane day jobs to go off and create a successful startup overnight. I know several of my peers who love to do nothing more than talk about all the wonderful ideas they have. But, I took a step back and realized that’s exactly what the problem was -  all they were doing was talking.

The reality is that it is far easier to discuss our ideas than it is to take action. We’ve deluded ourselves into thinking that there is only a small gap between talking about an idea and realizing it. I’ve seen far too many cases where the same individuals who loved to share their “awesome” ideas with me gave up after a week of trying to implement them.

The point here is that the difficult part is not idea generation -  I believe that everyone is innately creative. Our imagination is a very powerful thing and  it doesn’t take much effort to come up with useful ideas. However, the real challenge is finding the time to transform these thoughts into something tangible despite the obligations of everyday life such as work, household chores and your significant other. It’s not the first step that’s the hardest - it’s actually the second.  

This is a problem that I’ve recently been struggling with. For the past month now, I’ve been planning to write a novel and, as such, have been spending my free time brainstorming ideas for it. At first, I felt like I was making decent progress because I was able to generate a lot of interesting plotlines. But I soon realized that I wasn’t really making much headway at all. Every time I sat down to actually begin writing I found myself unable to focus for long. I would make up excuses to myself because I didn’t want to face the difficult problem of transforming my idea into a real story. Ultimately,  I was  really just going around in circles because I was never able to motivate myself to get beyond that first step.

The bottom line is that I was too focused on the initial stage of the creative process. I thought just because I was able to come up with an idea it meant that I was almost done or further ahead than the average person. But that’s clearly not true. After thinking about it, I believe that what distinguishes  a successful person is  not the quality of their ideas but their determination and, hence, their ability to execute them. We are all capable of generating great ideas but very few of us have the determination to follow through and act on it. That is why most people just get stuck in this cycle of merely discussing their ideas but being unable to move beyond the confines of their everyday life and act on them.

So, my advice to everyone is to focus more on implementation instead of on idea generation. When you come across an idea that’s interesting don’t hesitate to take that next step towards success.

Internal Motivation

There are numerous reasons to be motivated in this world. Some of us are driven by the accumulation of wealth while others are propelled by an insatiable thirst for knowledge. But ultimately, our motivators fall into two broad categories — they are either internal or external. We are either motivated to accomplish certain goals because of our own internal beliefs or due to external influences such as society, family or friends. My goal in writing this article is to remind you that your own internal motivators will always be more reliable than external ones and far more instrumental to your success.

Of course, this seems natural at first — why would anyone not be motivated to do something they truly wanted for themselves? The answer is because of inertia. Inertia, as defined in physics, is the ability of any object to resist changes in its state/motion. If one applies the concept of inertia to their own life then things begin to make a lot more sense. Inertia is the reason why it seems so difficult to change your lifestyle especially when you don’t have a lot of external support. External support effectively reduces inertia — it’s easier to get started on a new journey when you have friends and family cheering you on.

Thus far, it seems like I’m doing a poor job defending the idea the idea that internal motivators are superior. But, let’s take a closer look at what external motivational really is. Being motivated by an external force means that the fuel which drives you is essentially the (positive) actions of others. But, we can’t fully control the actions of others — the only actions we can truly control are our own. As such, external motivators tend to influence you to rely less on your own mental strength and more on the positive feedback loop created by the praise of others. This leads one down a very dangerous path.

Essentially, living a life which hinges on external motivators is akin to taking a car on a road trip but having no control over when you can stop for fuel. If there’s a steep hill you need to climb then you better sincerely hope someone or something provides you with the fuel you need to overcome it. Sure, your friends and family might be supportive of your startup at first — but after a few months without any progress perhaps they’ll begin to give up hope. At that point, you need to rely on your own internal motivation to push through this obstacle and succeed. The bottom line is that if your energy comes from within then your success is less contingent on the actions of others and more on your own abilities.

I recently struggled with this conflict between internal and external motivators in my own life. I’ve always enjoyed playing sports, especially badminton, but for the last few months I decided to spend more time working out at the gym instead. The reason for this was, quite honestly, very external. Many of my co-workers go to the gym religiously and it kind of influenced me to start going with them as well. I enjoyed the feeling that came when my friends consistently told me I was looking more fit and in shape. But something happened when I went home for the Christmas break and didn’t interact with my usual circle of friends for a while — I stopped going to the gym for over a month.

The explanation behind my actions was quite simple — I just didn’t care enough on a personal level about going to the gym. Thus, when I encountered this first hurdle and my sense of external motivation was no longer there, this habit could not be sustained. On the other hand, when I came back from Christmas break, I started playing badminton again because it was an activity I legitimately enjoyed “deep down”. It didn’t matter that very few of my close friends or co-workers barely even understand what competitive badminton really is. At the end of the day, I felt more satisfied because I did it for me. After a few months, it’s clear to me now that I am much more dedicated about going to play badminton than I ever was about going to the gym.

At the end of the day, I’m a firm believer in the fact that true happiness comes from within. We don’t need to be told what should make us content — it’s something we are all innately aware of on an intrinsic level. You know when you’ve done a good job not because someone told you but due to the fact that you performed to the best of your ability. That is why you should always pursue what you believe in — even if the journey will be arduous. There are a plethora of examples where great individuals achieve success simply because they pursued a line of thinking that seemed unconventional at the time. They were able to preserve because of internal motivation — they truly believed in their cause even if no one else did.

Ultimately, both external and internal motivators can have a powerful effect on our actions. However, the difference between them is that internal motivators will always be more sustainable in the long run whereas the external motivators tend to be much more fickle. That is why one should not be afraid to overcome inertia and follow their true interests.

There Are No Half Measures

It should come as no surprise to anyone that there are an ever increasing number of distractions in our daily lives. From Facebook and Instagram to Reddit and Youtube, it is obvious there are numerous ways to be unproductive on-line. As a result, it is not uncommon to get trapped in an infinite loop of scrolling through pictures, posts and videos without feeling any real sense of satisfaction or purpose. It’s easy to just exercise the minimum amount of brain activity needed to keep your boredom at bay. Of course, I'm also guilty of doing this, but recently I've been thinking more about the root cause behind it all.

The problem arises when you don’t know why you are doing something — you know, the time when you aimlessly pull out your phone and waste half an hour scrolling through your news feed on Facebook. This is an issue that can only be solved by taking the necessary time to plan and think before you act. You need to take that first step and determine what is truly the best use of your time, instead of just defaulting to pulling out your smartphone and playing games. More than any generation before us, we are unique in the sense that we all possess tools of great power at our fingertips, which is both a blessing and a curse. It is only natural that we are more inclined to be hasty with our actions, “googling” any idea that drifts into our mind on a whim. But, in gaining the ability to access information almost instantly, we have neglected the importance of tenacity in many aspects of our lives.

One way this problem manifests itself is through a lack of focus. For example, the average student nowadays will attempt to write an essay while concurrently having Facebook open, chatting on Skype and receiving the occasional text message on their phone.

As a result, they will spend several hours working inefficiently and perhaps only produce a few paragraphs at the end of this “study” session. It is well known that the human brain is inherently bad at mulch-tasking.

In fact, most studies have suggested that a more effective way to approach a task is by completely focusing on it for a certain period of time, usually around an hour, and then take a short break before continuing. For example, when writing an essay, it would be much more productive to check your email and Facebook at specific time intervals and not waver unless it is an absolute emergency. In my final year of college, I even went so far as to disable my internet connection in order to really buckle down when I needed to.

Furthermore, this idea of focusing your attention on one task at a time is not merely a productivity hack, but also an interesting philosophy to incorporate into your life. As such, I've recently started to be more critical of myself and always strive to think before I act. I try to associate each activity I undertake with a specific purpose even if that purpose is just something as simple as “to relax and have fun”.

This enables me to avoid situations where I'm trying to juggle multiple activities at once and end up doing a mediocre job at both. For example, I try to avoid situations where I end up watching a movie on Netflix while simultaneously attempting to read a textbook during the boring parts. What’s the point? I wouldn't get to fully enjoy the movie because I’d be worried about reading my textbook but, at the same time, I would get distracted and lose my train of thought during the interesting scenes. Instead, I simply make a decision on whether to watch a movie or crack open my textbook and do my best to commit to it.

Ultimately, the point I'm trying to make is that one should limit the number of “half-measures” they take in their daily lives and be accountable for how they are spending both their free-time and working time. So next time, whenever you choose to do something, try to dedicate at least an hour of uninterrupted time, and stick to it. Multi-tasking is far too gloried in this day and age — you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much more productive you’ll become if you live your life in a more linear fashion and develop your ability to focus. Time is only wasted when it is unaccounted for by you.

The bottom line is that as you get older you’ll realize that life is short and we only have a finite amount of time here. As such, it makes perfect sense to know exactly what we are doing with it.