Lessons Learned part 1... Action and the Al Bundy Paradox

Last post, I talked about my wife coming to a monumental decision.  She made a mental leap and developed a mantra that lead to a breakthrough.  The mantra was "how badly do you want it?"

Now, I've developed several theories on all the stuff that happened.  I may be wrong, but this is what I have to take away from her experience. 

1) You can talk all you want, but action trumps all talk.

My wife spent a lot of time talking about losing weight.  She relived her old best weights and how she got there numerous times.  She talked about getting up and going running twice a day.  Doing that consistently for a summer resulted in success she had never seen before. And then she lost all motivation and gained everything back.

I kind of think of this as the Al Bundy paradox.  Al Bundy was head of household in the sitcom Married with Children.   During the show, he was a 40-something male, working at a women's shoe store.  Any chance he got, he would tell people about his glory days playing high school football.  Bundy scored four touchdowns in one football game.  And never did anything remarkable or memorable afterwards. 

No matter where you go, you run into Al Bundy.  He's usually found on barstools, meeting rooms, sports stadiums, or any place people gather.  No matter how great or successful you are, Bundy is over there telling everyone about his four touchdowns in one football game.  Or it could be this one deal he completed ten years ago.  Or it could be back when he was in the war.  Point being, Al Bundy did something great once, and spent the rest of his life talking about it. 

Action is the catalyst that takes Al Bundy from being a pathetic loser to a sweet heart success story.  But that is unlikely to happen.  Bundy requires something to push him over the edge from inaction in action.  With my wife, it was a forum post.  There's no telling what the push may be, but a push is necessary. 

Action is the catalyst that takes any person from story to hero.  There are plenty of people out there with good ideas, but most of them won't ever do anything more than dream about their ideas.  As Thomas Edison put it, "Most people don't recognize opportunity when it comes, because it's usually dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work." (http://thinkexist.com/quotation/most_people_don-t_recognize_opportunity_when_it/146553.html)  I don't care how good your idea is on paper.  Come talk to me about how wonderful your idea is once you've rearranged your life to make your idea work. 

Part 2 comes tomorrow.