Action is defined simply as the process of doing something. Anything that results in movement or an act is considered an action, and as the old saying goes, actions speak way louder than words ever can.

There are two kinds of people: those who like to stand around and talk a lot, while there are many people who don’t like to talk much, but instead like to do more. There are plenty of times when words simply aren’t enough to help you complete the job.

The world that we live in is action oriented, and it requires you to act. If you continue to plan on doing something and never do it, there’s no way you are going to succeed.

The Importance of Expressing Yourself Through Actions

The importance of expressing yourself through your actions is of the utmost importance. Here’s an example: you realize that there is something wrong with the road outside in your neighborhood.

You create a social media group or a WhatsApp group and add all of your neighbors to it. You explain the problem to them, and then get all of them to agree to your plans. But what do you do next?

If you don’t pursue this, it won’t take long before people will become busy with their lives, and the whole thing will become dormant. Before you know it, people will forget about it altogether.

Why Do People Become Less Action-Oriented?

There are several reasons why people become less action oriented. Let’s explore these reasons one by one.

The Pursuit of Perfectionism

Too many people seek perfectionism in their lives, but focusing too much on being a perfectionist can lead to you losing a lot of opportunities in your life. It is important to understand that faster feedback loops are a better way to learn from your mistakes and actions. They are also more realistic and will help you make yourself better.

As humans, we learn from our mistakes. The lessons you learn from the worst moments in your life are the ones that are going to stick with you for the remainder of your journey. These are the lessons that are ultimately going to shape and create the best moments of your life.

Lack of Motivation

One of the main reasons why people lose their will to act is because they become less motivated. If you lose your motivation to do something, you simply won’t feel the urge to put your thoughts into action.

For instance, let’s assume you have to wash your car. You are motivated to do the job because you know that you have to drive your car to work tomorrow, and pulling into the office parking lot in a dirty vehicle is not something that you want to do. However, if it’s a holiday tomorrow, you can just put off the task for a day later.

Ultimately, you lose your will to act on it. People lose their motivation because they simply lose the motivating factor, or because they get overexcited for different things. By the time their plan is completed, their motivation to do the task is already over. They are simply distracted and don’t want to spend too much time planning.

Lack of Self-Confidence

To act, you need to have a lot of self-confidence. If you don’t have any confidence or belief in your own ability, you won’t be able to act on your beliefs. Some of the most ordinary and simple people in the world are able to climb up the ladder and achieve success, primarily because they have a little thing called self-belief.

If you want to achieve success, you need to be able to believe in yourself. The concept of “fake it till you make it” is very true here. If you can just distance yourself in your mind from your low self-esteem, you might be able to work it up and be more willing to take risks.

Confusion About the End Goal

Distractions are a dime a dozen. It doesn’t take very long for an average person to get distracted quite quickly. For instance, you might have wanted to be a doctor at one point in time, and then you may have changed career paths as you realized something better came your way.

The same goes for any other thing. Unless you are sure about the goal, you are simply not going to have the motivation to act on it. Think about when you are driving a car with someone. Without a destination in mind, you are simply going to drive with a bit of precaution.

However, once someone gives you the direction or if something comes to your mind, you will automatically become more focused, and the speed will increase. It’s a simple way of achieving your targets.

Becoming Accustomed to Procrastination

Here’s the most common reason why people become less focused on action: they become too addicted to procrastination. You are working on a task with immense focus, and then suddenly your attention wavers: you start looking at Youtube videos.

“It’ll only take a few minutes,” you think to yourself. But, before you know it, almost an hour has passed. It’s a serious problem, and procrastination can leave you feeling empty and disappointed with yourself. People who take action seriously simply do not leave any room for procrastination. They prioritize their time above all else, and they take things seriously.

Confusing Motion with Action

A common mistake that many people make is that they tend to confuse action with motion. Motion simply means movement in no direction, whereas action is always in a defined direction. Actions always produce outcome; motion hardly ever does.

For instance, let’s assume you want to know about a recipe for food; you search for it and then save it for the future. That’s you in motion. However, if you really want to enjoy the food, you will have to go out, buy the ingredients, and then cook everything. That is considered an action. There is a major difference between the two.

To focus more on action, you need to discipline yourself. Without discipline, it’s going to be quite difficult to become oriented toward action, and you are going to face many difficulties in life. Opportunities usually pass people by when they are not willing to act on time.