This is a powerful quote, which got me thinking. It is interesting because of the ambiguity of the word “acting”: acting as in “doing”, or acting as in “actor”?… This ambiguity is great because it creates suddenly a greater understanding.
At some stage one needs to dive in a situation. Take the bike and try. And fall. And try again. And fall. Until such time where biking will become a skill that will change the view on the surrounding world.
Much better and more effective certainly than staying at the side of road, looking at the bike, and over-thinking how to make it work.
An other practical example I know is influencing one’s posture to change one’s mood and outlook on things. Not by thinking – but by doing, by acting in the sense of the actor, can we change the way we think!
Basically, whatever you want to do, don’t over-think it. Just go and do it. Even if you fall a few times, you’ll get on to something. And your outlook on the world will change. And so will the world.
[This great quote’s origin is a bit hard to trace. Some internet sources mention Millard Fuller, and it has been repeatedly and widely quoted since it appeared in the book “Execution: the Discipline of Getting things done” by Cassidy and Charan.]
