Don’t be this kind of person….

There’s a certain type of person that loves to analyze things, but hates taking action. They love getting new information and collect heaps and heaps of it. They read books, they listen to programs, they read blogs, they are constantly ‘learning.’ The problem is they never actually apply anything. They like to analyze and discuss things down to the finest details, even though they still haven’t put anything into action yet. These type of people love asking for and getting massive amounts of advise, but they don’t bother applying any of it. These type of people argue over the nuances and minutia of everything they hear. They are constantly stuck in their head and are never able to make decisions, let alone take action. They love to take stances on certain issues and argue with people who are on the other side of the viewpoints….even though they’ve never actually put into practice anything they are so adamantly arguing for.

In life, these people love watching the news and politics, but never end up doing much for their own pursuit of happiness. In grappling, they love watching internet videos and arguing with people about what school is superior and dominant, but don’t care for actually rolling. In health and fitness, they love buying diet pills and exercise machines, but hate actually forming a new habit. In religion, they love engulfing themselves in doctrine, but don’t bother to treat their neighbor with any respect. In business, they’re always super busy fiddling with things that don’t have any sort of impact on anything. In general, there is always an excuse, and a logical reason for why things aren’t the way they are suppose to be.

So these people go on for years and years repeating this behavior. Nothing about their life ever really changes, even though they love to tell about how it has. This is called mental masturbation. It gives you something to do, but has no real purpose. It is empty calories. It is pointless.


***Don’t be one of those people***

If you’re trying to lose weight, stop trying to nail down every issue around intermittent fasting you can possible conjure up, or discover the ‘magic’ perfect macro-nutrient ratio and start eating less food and exercising more. Then after personal experience, you can make adjustments and continue to expand and learn and perfect. If you’re trying to build a business, stop worrying about protecting your ‘brand’ (that doesn’t even exist) and start getting sales. When it’s time to focus on the brand, then handle that issue. Focus on the bottom line. Be a doer, not a talker. Be a person of action, not a mental masturbator.

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  • Will Cunningham

    This one hit me hard, and I’m so glad I read it. I used to read book after book on Theology, Science, and Philosophy. Just sitting alone every night I thought I was accomplishing something, but in reality, it was just like the article said, “mental masturbation.” I knew the Bible like the back of my hand but I wasn’t concerned with helping others, only filling myself with more and more “stuff”. I was an information hoarder.

    This is very important for those of us who are trying to improve ourselves I think. I’ve been reading and reading for the past 2 days but this made me realize I haven’t put any of it into action yet. Like Sam says, we have to train our emotional muscle daily and there are no quick fixes. We are a culture that wants results NOW, always looking for shortcuts. That was me, but not anymore.

  • Bob Sellers

    I’m partial to this quote by William James from “The Gospel of Relaxation”:

    “When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome. Unclamp, in a word, your intellectual and practical machinery, and let it run free; and the service it will do you will be twice as good.”

    Nothing is perfect. We all make mistakes. Analyze and decide, then do without fear or self doubt. If it’s wrong? Hey! That will be apparent soon enough and you can stop, correct course with this new information, and continue doing.

    The vast majority of your actions come from the subconscious, not forced effort. Set up your mind to DO and let it do it’s job. If you are in constant “Analysis Paralysis”, too afraid to do anything because it might be ‘wrong’, then you are unable to do anything right, either.

    You have to be willing to be wrong, willing to make mistakes. Otherwise, you spend your time DON’Ting instead of DOing. Your goal should be to get to execution as soon as practical.

    Like William James says: Look at the data, make a decision, execute without doubts.

    Practice this in all things. Relish the opportunities to do this. Someone wants to sell you something? Analyze and decide. Then buy or buy not. At a restaurant? Look at the menu, choose. Then put the menu down without doubt or reservation. If you need to call someone to buy goods or services? Be proactive and WANT to do it so you can practice your decision making.

    When you become good at this, an awesome thing happens. You run out of things to do. At that point, when your mind is devoid of the distraction of pending tasks, you can truly relax. You don’t have to be busy 24/7, all long term tasks have huge amounts of dead time interspersed with short periods of DOing. If you learn to trust the plan of action you’ve decided on, you can relax with a clear mind during that down time.

  • Kate Merryweather

    Great article Sam! I find that people often blame their unhappy circumstances on the mysterious outside forces of the universe. As if some external power is somehow stopping them from being the person they want to be. “If I had more time: I would meditate.” or “If I had more money: I would get a gym pass and get in shape.” We all have the same number of hours in the day to spend. We are all busy. So why is it that some people are living their “dream” while others just sit around hoping things will change? If people would take the time they waste thinking about change and instead do something about it, their problems would be solved. I think that what the world needs is people who are passionate. Be passionate about who you are, be passionate about what you can be, and the world will change itself to meet your expectations. Stop making excuses, start getting results.

  • http://pimpseo.biz Bombastic

    Great post. I encounter that kind of person SO SO MUCH I think I must be a magnet for that kind of person. The three main things that I am good at are weight training, pickup, and internet marketing and in all 3 of those areas people constantly ask me for help and advice and don`t do SQUAT with the advice. Even if I take them by the hand and make them do it in front of me, they won`t do it when I`m not there.

    Thankfully it`s not everybody. Just 95% of them.

    • http://thesameffect.com/ Sam Lloyd

      Dude I hear ya. haha. Those 3 things are hotspots for this mindset for some reason. Love your business name btw.

  • http://www.sparklife.com.au Gordon

    ‘mental masturbator’ thats hilarious, well put haha

    Collecting too much information can lead to information overload, leading to confusion, the system (or the person) crashes and stalls….and in the process attempts to overload with their junk to everyone around them.

    MM’s are in love with ‘certainty’ before taking any action.

    They should embrace ‘uncertainty’, take the good with the bad, learn to say YES and find a way how later

  • Marie

    Wow … that’s me … how sad … what should I do now ? where do I start to get out of this vicious circle ? Easier said than done … I’ve been like this for as long as I can think … how am I to change a life long problem … by myself ? Jeez … might as well just find a rope and a solid hook, right ? ….

  • http://pdessentials.co.uk/ Dawleylad

    Always make decisions on gut feel and never over analyse them, if you do that it will be the wrong choice.

    http://pdessentials.co.uk/Life/Never%20regret%20a%20decision.htm

  • http://rmctech.net Ryan Critchett

    Loved this post. So with this. I align particularly with what you said about how they always try to argue about the stupidest bits of minutia and trivial details. They’re great at talking (in some cases), great at picking things apart, but absolutely horrible at creating outcomes. They’ll forever be frozen! Let’s just be psyched we’re not like that!