What’s More Important: Thinking or Doing?

Jesse is a big thinker. He is creative, perceptive, intuitive, and thoughtful. He’s always coming up with great ideas. He’s not afraid to think big and plan how to make a true difference in the world. Friends go to Jesse when they’re stuck because they know he’ll come up with bright solutions.

Susanna is a doer. She likes to get things done. Nothing is more rewarding to Susanna than checking off the items on her “to do” list. She tends not to procrastinate because she loves the feeling of accomplishing things and doesn’t like to have tasks hanging over her head. People know they can count on Susanna to do what she says she will.

Who’s in a better position to succeed in work and life?

What do you think?

The answer is that both Jesse and Susanna can be in a great position to be highly successful IF they are self-aware.

You see, Jesse’s natural strength is thought while Susanna’s natural strength is action. In my view, the way to raise the bar for yourself and achieve more is to capitalize on your strengths AND to add in some of the opposite.

This means that if you’re a natural perceiver and dreamer, then idea-generation is critical to you, it’s your natural strength. And if you have a natural urgency to get things done, then action is critical to you, it’s your natural strength.

BUT it also means that you need to be aware of yourself including your real motivations and habits.

For example, Jesse thought that he took an adequate amount of action. He believed that his planning was action. In reality, planning is often preparing to take action but is not in itself action.

Are you like Jesse? Could you benefit from moving out of preparation and into daily habits to help you achieve your goals?

And Susanna often jumped into action, thinking that she was ready to do so, when in reality she was not. She could have achieved even more or done so with less stress if she spent some time brainstorming, coming up with alternative solutions, and thinking through contingencies before jumping into action.

Are you like Susanna? Could you benefit from delaying action and spending more time planning and strategizing?

So, what’s more important, ideas or action?

The more important one for you to focus on is the one that comes less naturally to you.

The way to do this is to first be aware of your decision-making process. Then insert the question “Could more thinking/action help me here?” (Select thinking or action based on which one is not your natural inclination.)

Finally, develop the new habit of inserting more thinking or doing where you normally would have jumped to the other.

Enjoy the great results you get- I’ll be that you accomplish more than ever before!