The Thinking vs Doing Battle

Where it goes horribly wrong

Preparing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Scheduling time to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

….

Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn't doing the thing.

…

Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading this essay isn't doing the thing.

The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.

If you recognise this, it is the (in)famous Strangest Loop essay, Things that aren’t doing the thing.

Following a simple template of anything practiced before doing the main thing does not count as “doing the thing.”

I discovered this from Chris Williamson’s podcast when he read it to Steven Bartlett with glimpses of smiles and eventual amazement.

In response, Steven attributes it to procrastination and discomfort when taking action, as we come up with crazy inventions to avoid the work that provides the “magic.” This includes actions that seem like work but aren’t the needle movers.

A highly resonant sentiment to many.

This isn’t a new awakened concept.

It has been circling around for quite some time.

I’m talking about a debate between:

Consuming and Creating

Thinking and Doing

At the moment, there is a high favour towards execution, or should I say:

A bias towards action.

For instance:

The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.

Stephen King, On Writing

Versus:

And it never stops…

When you look at this battle deeply, something seems…

Off.

The intense favour of creation has given consumption a bad name, or a more…

Misunderstood name.

We equate consumption as spoonfed learning and a replacement for the hard work that should act as a supplement.

The same principle applies to thinking.

How could two fundamental learning actions be let down than hard actionable work?

Let’s clear things up

It beats procrastination no matter how messy the actions are.

There are two categories of procrastination that action-taking addresses:

Overthinking

Action is the building block of getting started.

The building block of progress.

The building block of finishing.

It is also a form of learning, as you are given numerous opportunities to create and test ideas and obtain feedback.

It mitigates the fear of failure, especially in the creative process, where there can be an unhealthy obsession with metrics and pleasing the audience.

We can see why people overthink:

To avoid making avoidable mistakes, strategise incessantly as a result, and most importantly, take control with high quality.

The advice is simple:

Just get started.

(No one is going to care).

Consumption

Yes, you need ideas to get started.

Ideas from books, movies, articles, and even from social media.

Gathering this information is simple and takes very little effort, and brings a feeling of accomplishment. Even more interesting, idealising our creations using this information feels good; the a-ha moments from what you have “learned” excite you to share with your audience.

But when it comes to the creative process, it may not equate to this ideal. It feels different and harder than consumption.

This explains why you should create more than consume, developing the tolerance to the discomfort of action.

Now here’s where things can get sociological.

Because of the vast amount of information at our fingertips, we can almost become slaves to ~continuous~ consumption as we search for more entertainment and feel-good wisdom on the go.

Adding action into the mix enforces conscious curation: being aware of our consumption and applying this information for good uses. In other words, thinking more like a creator.

The thinker-doer argument misses the point

Learning is easy, acting is hard.

I think that’s a solid summary of what we’ve discussed.

But a simple sentence isn’t enough to cover the nuances of the two actions, particularly with learning.

What they fail to acknowledge is:

Learning and thinking, too, are hard.

In fact, they are two of the most complicated areas of the human psyche.

So why do we think that they are easy?

It all comes down to a comprehensive framework known as Bloom’s Taxonomy:

Credit: University of Florida

Named after the educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, this framework helps categorise educational goals by stating which is the preferred learning process to achieve them.

From bottom to top, you transition from lower-order thinking, where you are mainly understanding information in isolation, to higher-order thinking where information is related to other concepts.

Now how does this explain our battle going on?

It’s because we spend too much energy and time in the lower-order stage than the higher-order stage.

Think back to when we first started learning how to learn…

We were likely taught on understanding and remembering. As the Taxonomy shows, it is basic. We can’t analyse or apply without understanding.

But there hasn’t been much education on the higher-order techniques, required from university level as the content doubles and conceptual understanding is emphasised.

As we mentioned, Bloom’s Taxonomy outlines the methods required to achieve your learning goals which may not involve higher-order thinking. But as the world becomes more complex and information-abundant, it is clear that higher-order thinking is called for.

To describe the action bias, we can stop at the apply stage and not progress further to analyse and evaluate.

And this is where the problem can occur.

When you evaluate information, you are finding relationships, comparing and contrasting, and synthesising. But the primary feature is the increasing level of cognitive discomfort as you move up the Taxonomy.

Because of these extra steps and deciphering whether the concepts can be connected, the brain will feel intense strain when conducting these processes.

Despite this intensity, it shows that we are searching for depth in the face of nuance.

Quality over quantity.

Deep thinking is the basis of our actions.

Where the head goes, the body follows. Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.

Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is The Way

So where do we go?

One thing is for sure:

Never stop taking action.

It is the basic needle-mover.

But when it comes to consumption, learning, and thinking, that’s something we need to change in order to advance our actions carefully.

The challenge lies in:

• Finding a space and time for deep thinking

• Keeping your information diet healthy.

We can’t just mindlessly consume knowledge.

We have the power to critically evaluate and find relational concepts.

We have the power to discover multiple perspectives.

I sure hope we can go forth in this direction.