Don't Just Sit There. Do Something!

Depression occurs when you are faced with two bad options and you choose to do nothing.

So explained Martin Seligman, in his book Learned Optimism. His concept has validity.

But then, how should you deal with two bad options? What should you do when you come to a fork in the road and you know that nothing good is going to happen if you turn right and that nothing good is going to happen if you turn left.

In more everyday terms, what happens when you face a moral dilemma, find yourself in a spot where you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Perhaps you will stop and think. Perhaps you will decide to wait until you feel more inspired.

Effectively, there is nothing wrong with a moment's reflection. When reflection supplants action, you are heading for trouble.

Call it procrastination. When we procrastinate we tell ourselves that we are waiting for an inner spirit to move us, to answer the riddle, to point us on our way.

We do this because we believe that all actions must be directed by some kind of mental process. We forget that we can do something just to do something without knowing why we are doing it or whether it will work.

When there is no good solution, then doing something is better than doing nothing.

Or sometimes, we look at the task at hand and say to ourselves that it is so enormous, so difficult, so taxing that we will never get it done. Why waste energy on such a project?

Thereby, we make a habit of inaction. We become demoralized and dysfunctional. For failing to take action we even see the situation change, to the point where we are not just dealing with the original dilemma, but are having to manage the consequences of our failure to act.

Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter offered just the right advice. She recommends that you do something, anything, regardless of whether your heart is in it, whether you know why you are doing it, or feel prepared to do it right. Link here.

It’s an old adage: Don’t just sit there. Do something!

It’s better to get it wrong then to do nothing. Getting it wrong energizes you. It involves you. It shows you different aspects of the problem. It is a step in the right direction.

As Kanter explained: “Actions produce energy and momentum. It simply feels better to take action than sitting around navel-gazing and getting sluggish. Overwork can bring stress, but, in fact, many studies show that the important factor in work stress is lack of control. Identifying a positive action is a way to feel in control. Getting moving doesn't drain energy; it tends to build energy. For people trying to solve the national obesity epidemic, or just to lose a few pounds, exercise is more fun than dieting.”

Happily, Kanter relates the problem to the one I posted about yesterday. Whether you are confronting an organization that has lost its direction or a life that has lost its purpose, doing something is better than doing nothing.

For those who believe that action, even exercise, drains energy, Kanter correctly responds that activity produces energy.

I hope I recall this correctly, but I remember reading about one of Aaron Beck's efforts to treat a bedridden depressed patient. The patient explained calmly that she could not walk to the door. Beck suggested that she place a foot on the floor. Surely, she could do that. He then suggested that she place her other foot on the floor. And so on.

Kanter explains it in more organizational terms: “Accomplishments come in pieces. A journey of a thousand miles is daunting. The single step with which the journey begins is manageable. Every step you take now adds up by getting that much closer to a goal. Busy people in high-productivity environments tend to take just one more action, return one more phone call, set one more thing in motion before calling it quits for the day. By tomorrow, new demands will start piling up. Mental tricks like dividing big tasks into numerous small steps make it possible to identify immediate actions to get big things off the ground.”

You may not know the best thing to do, but you can certainly do something. As Kanter points out, pursuing the perfect solution becomes an excuse for inactivity.

In her words: “Perfection is unattainable anyway. Forget perfection. Just do it. So what if you're wrong? You can always try again. In an uncertain world of rapid change, business strategy includes room for improvisation. Live by some classic slogans: Best is the enemy of good. (Don't wait for perfect conditions.) Nothing ventured, nothing gained. (It takes a little risk to get rewards.)“

It’s all about the wisdom of old adages and classical slogans. To which Kanter adds a new one: “So what if you’re wrong?”

No one is right all the time. Problems do not solve themselves. Yet, they will eventually yield to effort and failed attempts. If you are not in the game, you are not going to excel.

She adds: “Sometimes it doesn't seem easy. Organizational cultures, autocratic bosses, uncooperative co-workers, long losing streaks, the uncertainty of shifting industry conditions, and big world events like natural disasters and revolutions can stop people in their tracks. But those who emerge triumphant, and get the most done anyway, are the people who would rather take action, any action, than wait around.”

Kanter’s article is not so much about telling you something that you don’t know. She is trying to incite you to follow the rule.