My name is Sam. I Am a street-level philosopher and a lifelong martial artist and this is must Triumph. This week. I have to thank Becca Kirkpatrick for becoming my newest patreon sponsor. Thank you Becca. If you've benefitted from must Triumph, please consider also becoming one of my patreon sponsors. I've included an array of rewards such as transcripts bonus episodes. I recently started an educational series covering important books. I finished one on sapiens by you've all Noah Harari, and I'm now in the middle. Three part series on a people's history by Howard Zinn also as a sponsor you can ask me questions that I'll answer on the podcast and you'll just get lots of love and gratitude for me. You can find me on patreon.com slash must Triumph, but I'll include a link in the show notes. With that said let's begin the show on actions The Art of Doing. In high school, I really like this girl. Let's call her Jane. Actually. I wasn't the only one who like they're two of my other friends did as well. It had gotten to the point where the time for talk was over. It was time for Action. We all decided to ask Jane out and see who she would say. Yes to guess what she said. Yes to none of us because none of us asked. So this was my first lesson on The Art of Doing one action is worth more than a thousand thoughts. That's the Curious Thing about dots they only exist in our heads and not in the real world. It only becomes reality through action. Yes, we all decided to ask but none of us actually did it if thinking were just as good as doing then the world as we know it would look a lot different. Imagine Five Frogs on a log drifting on a pond for think about jumping off. How many are left still five because thinking and doing are not the same. It's like someone on a diet describing their eating habits to a nutritionist. They only describe what they should be doing. I'm trying to cook more and eat more salads rather than what they're actually doing. I mostly eat fast food. We have a hard time differentiating intent from action. That's why we often get so confused about politics. We look at the intent. What each party is supposed to do rather than what they've actually done through policy. And until David Hume in the late 1700s. We thought what should be happening was the same as what is happening. It took that long and the Arc of history for someone to realize they were not the same and if you've never heard of him, you still might not know the difference. We we all start from a place where we don't know the difference. That's just how the human mind naturally works. How can people defend the bad actions or bad policies of our world leaders? They argue from the perspective of intent or more precisely from our Assumption of their intent. And if you look at the wellness industry, the whole industry is based on the confusion between intent and action why do people fall for scams and pseudoscience because they look at the intent they look at what a supplement is supposed to do but Having no idea what it actually does or how suppose is different from effect. If we only bought wellness products based on the effect rather than the promised there would be no Wellness industry. It comes down to motivated reasoning we're motivated to believe thoughts and actions are the same preferring to be judged by our intentions rather than our actions because our intentions are always Stellar our actions and not so much. So for the sake of ego we highlight the intent so going back to my story. It wasn't long after I decided to do something and ended up. Doing nothing that Jane moved away. This leads to my second lesson why I like prizefighting and in fact why so many of us like prizefighting it doesn't matter if you watch the actual sport what I mean by liking prizefighting is enjoying the idea of price lighting interpret it in TV shows movies video games and the like and what price fighting represents is a level of honesty. You won't find in day-to-day interactions. There are the occasional fight fixes but unlike in movies if it happens in real life. It doesn't involve the fighters at all. The fight fixers usually get to the judges or the referees because it would be too obvious if they got to the fighters because what you see is what you get. Imagine if every conversation was held to the same standard the things that count or what the fighters do with their fists and not much else. We the audience have no privy to their thoughts. We can assume they intend to win yet. All that matters is what they do. There are no should haves or could haves the fighters leave it all in the ring. And then some we respect that somewhere in our DNA. We all respect action has been hardwired by Evolution adaptation is not an intent. It's an action nature doesn't mess around humans talk. Think and procrastinate but nature is break to business. Then what's fighting? It's the closest escape hatch. We have to our primitive days when we only lived in objective reality and on some fundamental level the knowledge that there is at least one real thing left in the world is comforting to us. This leads to my third Epiphany as a kid actions count. Too often. We tell people are intense wanting instant positive feedback rewards just for thinking Mom. I was thinking about applying to law school and Mom replies. I'm so proud of you or how about I was thinking about volunteering to help the homeless and your friends respond. You're so kind and what it never happens rather than facing that fact gracefully we default to but I thought about it. This is our inner dialogue. Why didn't I tell Dad I love them before he passed I thought about it. Why didn't I forgive my brother and reconnect with them? I thought about it. Why didn't I travel like I had always planned to I thought about it. Why didn't I finish school? I thought about it. Why didn't I take better care of myself. I thought about it. It's not about action speaking louder than words. I'm saying actions are the only things that speak. Actions count words are meaningless unless used for something meaningful in your life. What will count aren't all the dots. You've had. No one had their deathbed recounts all their thoughts. What counts are all the things you've done how you've treated others how you treated yourself? And how you apply the principles you believe that and if you keep examining yourself and go down this Rabbit Hole you'll get to my fourth realization. Announcing is not committing every year. I see Facebook Health resolutions a year later. It's the same resolutions by the same people if announcing work, why would you have to announce it again the following year? It's like having multiple grand openings. Something's not working. In fact, it's not even like announcing the grand opening. It's more like announcing that you've started to think about starting a business, but that announcement does not tell us anything about whether anything will actually happen or change. So here's my fifth lesson show don't tell Writing narrative is hard because a good writer must demonstrate intent through actions not by having the characters talk about themselves, which is what happens in real life. And why real life is boring compared to fiction. The general rule is show don't tell just as writing the park can be challenging so is living the part both require character development. Quote action is character F Scott Fitzgerald. Is the focus on creating an identity or is the focus on implementing a task implementation encourages action identity encourages inactivity. It's the difference between being what you consistently do versus being what you say you are if I always lie and I am what I consistently do then I am a liar. But if I am what I say, I am and I say, I'm an honest person then identity says, I'm an honest person. Identity through Exposition is of course more ego preserving than living the part which is why people do it just as writing bad narrative through Exposition is easier than writing good narrative, which is why people do it. In fact, it's much easier to call myself a writer then to do it as a profession. I'm a writer. I just said it it's super easy to do and it didn't cost me anything now going out there and making a life doing it. Well, that's different. I can say I'm really good at anything but actually being good at that thing. Dang that's hard. The scientific definition of ego is self-identity. Our ego does not actually exist in the world. It only exists in our minds. Thus ego disconnects us from reality and connects us to fiction fiction being what our minds create sadly we often enjoy our Fiction more than our reality. Let's say my goal is to look smart. It may be good enough to tell people how well I've done in school. Perhaps even make up a high number and tell people that's my IQ. Then I have met my goal to appear smart to others. But if my goal were to do well on an upcoming test there would be no advantage in trying to convince others of my smarts. In fact, he would only robbed me of time and energy that I could use for Preparation furthermore bragging with distract me from my primary goal and add unnecessary pressure. I'm sabotaging myself prioritizing appearance over performance. Not only will I underperform but I'll also look stupid and just based on my actions. I am being stupid which raises the question am I living a simulation? or a reality We don't need to go all Matrix or sci-fi on this. Let me explain how ordinary this Paradox is. So for some creating a list for telling others of intent achieve their goal if my intent were to express to myself and to others my ambitions, then the telling accomplishes might ask I'm creating my own social reality but through announcing do I gain some symbolic power? I lose material power. To expand on this further think about the boy who cried wolf. He cried wolf hoping to gain symbolic power and he did everyone gave him their attention attention exist in people's minds. This is why symbolic but now the boy has no material power away to get people to physically help him if an actual wolf appears and when the wolf arrives the boy will cry, but no one will come. Symbolism is beautiful, but it does nothing for you when you're being eaten by a wolf though. It might help the writer who recounts your story because symbolism also does not exist in the real world. It is immaterial and unfortunately like intent and action we offer free skate symbolic power with material power EG social politics versus Power politics. Our minds are built for narrative. So it makes sense. We mistake storytelling for Action. I'm telling you a story. What I'm about to do something that has not happened. This is different from describing an event what I have done something that has actually happened but as we do with mythology once it's out there we mistake the story for reality. We mistake storytelling for actual living. Let's say I tell everyone my goals and my doing this to help myself attain my goals or am I doing this to facilitate imagining myself having already achieved my goals. Is this a creative exercise or am I really accomplishing something like telling everyone I want to ask Jane out versus actually asking Jane out during the first Hurst the latter because I trapped myself in a fantasy Lube. We're in my imagination Jane and I already went out and broke up then why ask her out when I've already lived the relationship in my mind. This is why people pretend to have online relationships what matters isn't the material existence of the significant other but rather the feeling that this is a reality and the more people you tell them convinced the more they help you live your fantasy. They actively participate in your delusion. This is why I technology all about doctored photos is becoming the biggest social platform. It's what we've always wanted a way to spread our imaginary world and for others to reinforce them in your life. You will constantly be asked to participate in others delusions and you'll ask others to take part in your delusions. Every professional boxer regularly meets a grown man. Who's never taken a boxing class who will tell them how they've always planned to fight professionally and are still looking into it. They want the boxer to validate their fantasy that they are a diamond in the rough a somebody special significant. So what are thoughts without actions? Are we living in base reality or are we living in our custom-made simulation? We don't need virtual reality or machines for simulations. That's what our minds are for. Are we taking actions to make our goals or reality or are we creating a simulation where we pretend? Our goals are already a reality. This isn't the Matrix. This is our everyday and believe it or not creating a simulation is much easier than committing to action. In telling people our goals, we're telling people the reality. We like to live in one where rear Tony Stark and whether they believe it or not just saying it helps us live in our vanity because we aren't saying it for them. We're saying it for ourselves. We just need to know they heard us. Why do people need to preach to you their rear beliefs? Why can't they be libertarian about it and let you think what you want and they can go on and believe what they want because it's not about us. It's about damn reinforcing their fantasy. And the weirder it is the more reinforcements they need. Why do we get so passionate about ideas? Why do we need a proselytized? Why can't we just Live and Let Live you do you I do me telling rather than doing allows us to wrap ourselves in the warm blanket of personal fiction. And once we're tucked in there is no need for a real world action. We're completely turned around but since in action, and the world of intent is normal We Believe eating in a No gay means we don't have to eat and real life. Your sorrow tribe of Papua New Guinea have a saying knowledge is only a rumor until it lives in the muscle. This is the best explanation of thoughts and actions I've ever found. We can't tell if we're really trying to accomplish something or if we're just role-playing we make big goals. We make plans make vision boards, but is this any different from people who set goals make campaigns draw maps and the sundry for Dungeons and Dragons if you've ever played or talked with a DND Enthusiast the game is talked about and played as if it were based reality, but that's most of us and goals are our game. We've lived in our heads for so long. We can't tell when we're dealing with reality or are fiction and that's why we go to therapy and or take medication. We seamlessly slide back and forth. We aren't ever lying because to lie, we have to be aware of the truth, which most times we are unaware of and disinterested in Andy's fantasies are constantly reinforced smile before you're happy. Tell everyone you are professional actor before ever having active professional League fake it till you make it even though that's called fraud in the eyes of the law. Think about being rich and pretend you're already there. Say it until you believe it tell the universe your desires and pretend you already have them take a picture of your feet in front of the YMCA pool posted on Instagram and tell everyone you're in Fiji Photoshop yourself use. Walter apps and create a Persona then adopt the persona. It's a self-perpetuating delusion. No different than the process of hypnosis and talking about it is what helps you maintain it. There's a scene from the HBO show Flight of the Conchords that really drives this home. And back in New Zealand. Uh, I was getting it on with lots of chicks. Hey, well Sierra Fitzpatrick Michelle Fitzpatrick clear Fitzpatrick. The list goes on. That was all along. Well triple figures. That's not trouble figures this 3 here though. I don't seem to get with any women. I just talked about getting with women. Yeah, but the ones you talked about a heart they're a lot harder than the ones you got with a New Zealand. That's true. I don't talk about getting with some pretty hot women. Yeah, just talk about a man. Talk about a lot. Yeah, I suppose I do talk a lot about getting with some very hot women. Simulating an examined life and a better self is nice. But when will you actually live don't fear machines putting you inside the Matrix, we've already put ourselves there willingly Friedrich Nietzsche believed. This was the basis for understanding human behavior that we humans live vicariously but not vicariously through the lives of others. That would be somewhat understandable but vicariously through Our own lives one, which we imagined traditional vicarious living would be to look at an athlete and wonder what it would be like to be him. But in the vicarious living each up houses, we live in we imagine ourselves as perhaps a former star athlete a past that never actually existed and live vicariously through this imaginary us dieters will often imagine a time when they used to be in super human shape back in the day. I was in such good shape or the more ordinary terms we pretend we're richer than we are smarter than we are and more badass than we are the good old days days that never existed making America great again. I remember the UFC a fighter talking about making a brand new division great again. But how can you make great again, but division that just started because it's easy to invent an illustrious past that never happened. Other people bought into it too. But Nicha suggest we snap out of our fantasies and live the lives. We want to live instead of retroactively changing the past just live the past you want to live just do the damn thing. And that is what the chair called the Ubermensch one of the rare individuals who has free will. The will to power his or her own life instead of not doing it and making it up just doing it. So here is my sixth lesson announcements can be cool sometimes. Sometimes informing others of your objective is a critical step in achieving your goals intent letters were College to hold appointments to raise money to gain a vice and so forth. It can also remove unnecessary obstacles caused by misunderstanding or miscommunication like using turn signals while driving These are natural steps in completing your tasks. They serve a tactical purpose rather than serving as a symbolic gesture if the intent and telling someone your goal is to get early praised or to give yourself self praise then it'll backfire especially if they're important. You might blow your only Opportunity by going to them before you're ready. In fact being so bent on getting praise with nothing to show for it. Is the red flag for anyone who's in a position of power? This is also how people will begin to complain that you're entitled many behave in this way seeking catharsis catharsis is all about releasing some pent-up psychological energy yet. Once that energy is released. So goes the urge to commit your exercising the intent rather than doing the intent thus giving away your power I plan to marry you is Is different from a genuine proposal, you know this right? He said he loves me but he's not ready to commit to our brains the gesture of Promise feels as good as the action whether you're actually proposed to her not being told the intent releases the same feel-good endorphins to the speaker and the receiver. This is why we get hooked on talk over action. It's so much quicker and easier way to get an endorphin rush. We want immediate gratification and action takes time and work. This hard people are willing to make unlikely promises and we're likely to believe them because it feels good like a drug addict neither the person making the promise nor the receiver of the promise knows whether This Promise will be kept all their oh thinking about our feelings. Why do people say I love you when they don't mean it because it feels good. And it's often done during a feel-good moment quote as empty vessels make the loudest sound so day that have least wit are the greatest babblers Play-Doh. Ostensibly let's do lunch means there will be no lunch. Since the gesture has been made there is no good cause to actually meet for lunch - we'll make cliches. They're often said but seldom acted upon we know not to take them seriously and this is why People like to talk watch what they do. Not what they say. This is the intent Behavior Gap. In at NYU study people who publicly announced their intentions to commit to a goal. We're less likely to pursue that goal than people who made no announcement. These findings have been consistently replicated since the 1930s was the intent to complete the goal, or was it to communicate the goal? Either way part of the goal has come to fruition getting others to imagine us crossing the finish line. Imagine paying up front to get your car fixed. Do you believe this will make the mechanic more accountable? That's how people get scammed. You're giving away your power. Announcing the seductive because it creates a sense of progress without having to get your hands dirty the same as bragging about a good deed. We know we shouldn't but we sometimes lack the discipline to stop ourselves. It's that feeling when you know, you shouldn't post something on Facebook, but you can't help yourself. Quote act like a man of thought and Think Like a Man of Action Henri bergson. We're told that it is the thought that counts yet. History tells us it is only actions that count. If we are exceptional based on our goals, then we are all exceptional because there are no barriers to ambitious goals because even a brain in a jar that has no physical ability to do anything can still set goals. So is that what we are a brain in a jar Imagining the world? When I told my friends I had decided to ask Jane out. They said they were proud of me and that I was demand but proud of what I never did anything they were proud of my intentions rather than my actions and in doing so it gave me the mental excuse not to bother why go through all the nerves and unpleasantness of asking Jane out when I could have the self satisfaction of getting respect from my friends as if I had accomplished. The task strange as this may sound if my friends had not believe me. I would have been more likely to pursue my goal. They were too supportive of my wish fulfillment for alcoholics. This is called enabling when people don't buy into your fantasy when they doubt you you now have just cause to prove your intent. This is why so many doers say they love doubters, but perhaps the doubters create the doers and people who never do never do because they have no doubters. What is the best motivator doubt? How do people lose massive weight or climb Mount Everest? We like to believe as because Bought into our vision but as you know, that doesn't work we do it when we think there is no other way to make our intent or reality other than by doing it much like a wolf. We're most powerful when we're backed into a corner or Corner we can create for ourselves. In 210 BCE after ferrying his army across the Yangtze River Chinese Commander Zhang you set fire to his own ships. He eliminated Retreat as an option harsh and cruel. Yes, but it worked and as Army won nine consecutive battles, the same tactic was employed by many of the ancient militaries. Humans, look for any justification to stop trying to give up and sometimes only when left with no other options do they do the right thing social scientists have proven that closing options not only helps us Focus, but it also makes us more creative in our Solutions. When everyone tells you you're the best and that you'll be able to accomplish whatever you wish you probably won't be the best at anything and you're likely not to accomplish much. You'll be what Nietzsche are called the bungled and botched. Yes. Congratulations for doing nothing feels good and doubt sucks. That's how our minds work. It's by Design. It's how we survive through adversity. We can't survive. Yes. We can remember encouragement by definition means to be pushed into courage and when we use encouragement as it was intended is when encouragement actually works. So here's my seventh lesson. We all need a personal code. Some people are measured with their words if they say they'll do something they'll do it. They don't deliver on what they say because they're afraid of what others will think is what they'll think of themselves having said something and not having done it. They're uncomfortable with praise for them. It's a matter of principle social scientists call this personal code conscientiousness conscientious. People are the rivals to public announcers and studies consistently show conscientious folks are the happiest have the most friends. Live the longest conscientiousness is a time-worn quality. That is Vanishing in a Shameless Society who hates being shamed We Tell The World our goals without shame and yet we will not allow ourselves to be shamed into following through what our goals quote your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying Ralph Waldo Emerson. It's always a pleasant surprise when someone accomplishes something without much fanfare. Fighters are famous for saying they'll let their actions speak for themselves. The effectiveness of this attitude is backed by both science and Common Sense people who believe actions of the best way to express intentions or more likely to start and complete any big undertaking in the end. No one will ever know what I was thinking history only remembers what was done and Jane will never know I wanted to ask her out All That Remains is a cautionary tale about my inactivity. But it all worked out in the end o because now I'm happily married and that would have never happened unless my wife asked me out. Hey, someone had to take action right quote. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an action is worth a thousand pictures Grand Master Zhu Andre. So in closing do not brag over what is not yet done be playful be childlike kids think then they do we need to add some of that back into our lives fear of risk stagnates progress. It might feel safe to do nothing yet. Most of the world's ills happen because we should have done something happiness is an internal state, but it's driven by external actions. The more meaning we provide others the happier we feel so for the sake of others and yourself have your accomplishments surpassed the things you wish you had done. If you enjoyed this episode you can find more information in the show notes. If you want the transcript of the show it's available on patreon and if you want to stay up to date on the newest episodes subscribe, wherever you listen become a must Triumph Super Sayan.
Do not brag over what is not yet done. Be playful, be childlike. Kids think then they do. We need to add some of that back into our lives. Fear of risk stagnates progress. It might feel safe to do nothing, yet most of the world's ills happen because "we should have done something." Happiness is an internal state, but it's driven by external actions. The more meaning we provide others, the happier we feel. So for the sake of others and yourself, have your accomplishments surpass the things you wish you had done. Useful Resources   http://pss.sagepub.com/content/20/5/612.abstract  http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/2013/12/30/facebook-resolutions/   http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself   For those who suffer from procrastination and resistance, read The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield http://amzn.to/2wzBUlI   The definitive book in productivity, Getting Things Done by David Allen http://amzn.to/1VUsTun   How to find joy in action, Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch http://amzn.to/2xI46mo   On effortless action, read Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of Spontaneity by Edward Slingerland http://amzn.to/2xIM7MM   For more on the strange and irrational world of the human mind, read Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely http://amzn.to/2x75UZh   For more on longevity and conscientiousness, read The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study by Howard S. Friedman, Leslie R. Martin http://amzn.to/1qVxMrR   Heidi Grant Halvorson Ph.D. breaks down the mental science of achievement with Succeed http://amzn.to/181U9lK   To understand the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche beyond Internet memes, read Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and No One http://amzn.to/2xgYbqm  Music    Theme – Chosen by Ross Bugden   Astral by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomyn Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/C5OUN5OEBcs   Reverie by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomyn Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/LRNX-lgE8mo   Polaroid by extenz https://soundcloud.com/extenz Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/YnipBtKvnAo 