What one does is what counts. Not what one had the intention of doing.
– Pablo Picasso
There’s a lot of buzz these days in online “guru” circles surrounding the notion of taking action. That is to say, the action you’ve taken on your fitness and life wellness goals…or anything in your life that you’d like to boost, for that matter. What have you started? Are you moving? Standing still?
Fact is, you can watch a thousand YouTube videos about how to perform a deadlift. But if you don’t actually go to the gym and do the work nothing will happen.
You can read every blog under the sun about the foods you should eat to trigger body fat loss. But if you don’t put the diet or wellness plan into effect you won’t lose an ounce. The gap between knowing and doing is huge.
Part of the problem of not doing is that there is no such thing as stasis: either you’re improving or degrading. Always changing, and never staying the same, whether upward or downward. So the greater risk is in actually not doing…not trying.
Seth Godin in his book Linchpin calls it “shipping.” (As in, what have you shipped today?…or…what action have you taken?) He’s a big proponent of this philosophy and I highly recommend his daily blog.
The timing is never “perfect” to start a new fitness program. The right time is now, then you make adjustments along the way. Start by walking around the block if you need to. Then get a gym membership, have a trainer show you the ropes, and use it. Or sign up for a yoga or pilates class. Or, for a real kick in the ass, try a Bikram yoga class. There are literally endless ways to increase health and fitness, but you must take the action first.
Knowing what you have to do to get healthy doesn’t count for much at all. It’s the doing.
Starting today I’m going to be adding a new facet to my nightly wind down routine. At the end of each day I’ll ask myself the following four questions: What have I learned today?; What am I grateful for today?; What have I contributed?; and, What have I shipped? If I can’t answer any of the four, it’s time to get to work.
And I’ll be the first to admit that I need to ship more often.
So…to coin a phrase…what have you shipped today?
Photo by ogimogi on Flickr
