To Merely Want to Do Something Is Not Enough. You Need To Take Action.
Just thinking about something is as good as doing nothing.
This is the story of a brother and sister in Matsumoto, Japan. Life was wretched in Japan right after the end of World War II. The winters in Matsumoto are usually quite severe, and there are days when the temperature falls to 13 or 18 degrees below zero centigrade.
On one of those days the sister returned from an errand and, as she shook off the snow, she said, “In all this cold, there is a wounded soldier standing on the bridge down by Hon-machi, begging. He is standing there shivering in this driving snow, and nobody is putting any money in the box at his feet. I wanted to invite him in to sit in our kotatsu (low, wooden table frame covered by a futon upon which a tabletop sits. Underneath is a heat source, formerly a charcoal brazier but now electric, often built into the table itself) in our warm room and give him some tea.”
The brother immediately replied, “You merely wanted to?”
She answered Yes but quickly realized her folly. She suddenly darted out into the street. The brother made the room warmer, stirred up the fire in the kotatsu, got out some cookies somebody had sent them as a gift, and waited. About thirty minutes later his sister came back with the white-clad, wounded soldier. “This lady insisted…” he began to explain.
The brother quickly interrupted him, “You are very welcome; do come in.”
Both of them urged him into the kotatsu with them, and they sat and talked about all sorts of things. Finally, the soldier asked the brother for the second time, “Why are you so kind to me?”
“My sister happened to see you,” the brother replied, “and insisted on inviting you in.”
“It’s the first time anyone has… and today was so cold and miserable,” the soldier said. He told them about his experience in the war, and how he was going from place to place collecting money for the wounded soldiers, and all three of them talked and talked for three hours until he got warm again.
After a while, he then got up, saying he had to go to Nagano. At the front door, in spite of his protestations the brother put some money in his box, saying jokingly that it was just compensation for causing him to lose a half day’s business, and anyway it was not his own personal box and so he had no right to refuse.
Afterward, the sister said to her brother, “You taught me an excellent lesson.”
The brother went on to explain — Indeed, it was our first exercise in “If you want to do something, do it.” Plenty of people often think, “I’d like to do this, or that.” We all have the ability to think that. But it usually ends there, and people who put their thoughts into practice are very few indeed.
There is no merit in just thinking about doing something. The result is exactly the same as not thinking about it. It is only doing the thing that counts. One has to acquire the habit of doing what I have in mind to do.
We Are Conditioned To Resist
Why is it that so many people think of doing things and do not do them? Why do they not have the power to put into practice the things they think of doing? If one just thinks about it, the chance slips by.
From the time they are children, people are ordered about by their parents to do this, to do that. They develop resistance and reluctantly do as they are told, or avoid doing it if possible. The resistance habit becomes subconscious until they are unable to perform immediately even those things they think of doing themselves.
They may think something is a good thing to do, but they have gotten so used to it, that they are unable to do it simply and naturally. People lose a great deal this way. “We should have done it. It was such a good chance, but we let it slip by.”
Because they are incapable of putting thoughts into action straight away time after time, people’s destiny never develops. They close the stable door after the horse is gone. Chances come to everyone. Yes, chances come; but we don’t grasp them. By not claiming them we renounce them.
“I should call my friend” — “I should go visit my family”. If you think so, do it immediately or make a commitment to yourself for doing it. By not taking any action, you are not doing anything at the time, but just thinking you will wait and do it later.
Even small tasks should not be neglected but completed right away. It is very important to be able to do this.
People who get a lot done manage it because they have the ability to get each necessary thing done right there and then. If you put a task off until some other time, you will never get it done, because “some other time” has its own tasks. Consequently, you end up doing nothing and become a person who keeps putting things off.
Time doesn’t wait, but most people are so not up to doing things right away.
The habit of action — this, I think, is the most important thing we must acquire. Life’s success or failure actually depends on this one thing.
Just like knowledge is mere knowledge and is not to be confused with ability and skill.
Not until knowledge becomes an inseparable part of one is it an ability or skill. There are plenty of people who know a lot about a sports game and can criticize the game; however, the spectator lacks the intuitive skills, judgment, and physical coordination of the experienced player.
Final Thoughts
So what should we do? We should take action immediately so that it is second nature to put our thoughts into action. Start now, today.
True, it is easier to say than to do, but the more you do it, the more of a habit it will become. It is an indispensable skill. To know something and not put it into practice is a weak point.
A fine society is not built by people who just think about what is right to do. A fine and progressive society is built by people who act on what needs to be done. Taking action is the only way to move forward.
In my publication Any Given Sunday, I mostly write stories about parenting, being a dad, motivation, fitness, and some off-beat controversial topics.
I am also very passionate about F1, and run a publication — Formula One Forever where writers from across the globe contribute to this publication
Some more thought-provoking stories from Any Given Sunday —
Dad Stories
⭐ Say Hello! To The 4 Year Old Forrest Gump
⭐ If You Don’t Pick Up Your Kids Now, You’ll Surely Regret Later
⭐ How to Extract A Commitment From Your Teenager?
⭐ That Day When Dads Took Charge Of Their Kids For 1 Day
⭐ Your Kids Need To Sleep For Atleast 8 Hours. Otherwise, The Consequences Are Quite Severe
⭐ Teachers, Stop Asking Children To Click Pictures. Instead, Do This One Thing
⭐ If a 9 Year & 4 Year Old Can Climb 69 Floors, What’s Really Stopping You?
⭐ The Real Truth About The Discovery Of The Indus Valley Civilization
Motivational Stories
⭐ If I Miss A Rep, I Punish Myself. And The Results Are Amazing.
⭐ Top 15 Quotes from The Navy Seals That Will Motivate The Hell Out Of You Everyday.
⭐ 5 Simple Reasons You Are Not Motivated, And What You Need To Do About It.
⭐ To Merely Want to Do Something Is Not Enough. You Need To Take Action.
⭐ To Earn Respect, You Have To Look Sharp
⭐ How To Manage Negative Talk From Negative People?
⭐ Making Promises To Yourself Don’t Work. Never Will.
⭐ When Disaster Strikes, Just Say The Four Letter Word.
⭐ Fail You Must. History Is Full Of People Who Failed & Bounced Back
⭐ Achieve Personal Glory By Embracing Your Challenges With Open Arms.
⭐ Why You Should Apply For A Job That Says, “Men Wanted For Hazardous Journey”
⭐ Be Different. Become Different
Off-Beat Stories
⭐ The Information Tsunami Is Sucking You In. And You Don’t Even Know It. (Part 1)
⭐ The Information Tsunami Is Sucking You In. And You Don’t Even Know It. (Part 2)
⭐ Women Should Stop Trying To Walk Shoulder To Shoulder With Men (Part 1)
⭐ Women Should Stop Trying To Walk Shoulder To Shoulder With Men (Part 2)
⭐ Women Should Stop Trying To Walk Shoulder To Shoulder With Men (Part 3)
⭐ 26 Amazing (Or Not) Things That We All Can Do During Humanity’s Downtime
⭐ Trust Your Common Sense To Beat The CoronaVirus
⭐ Why 2500 deaths/day is Creating a Bigger Panic and Emergency than 17,000 Children deaths/day?
