Shh!

I received a call from a woman in distress. She could barley speak through the hysteria present in her voice. It was difficult for me to even hear a complete phrase. Eventually, I pieced together her issue and tried to offer words of encouragement. Barely able to get a word in, I spoke as loud as I could over her ranting. I asked...what do you want? She replied with a…huh? I repeated the question…what do you want? She was extremely puzzled. She said, I don’t understand. I said… my question is simple. You called me for advice, yet you’ve spent most of the past 15 minutes re-living your pain. I know your story. Now, I want to know what you want…what do you want to happen now… I told her to think about it and that I would call her back.

What is true about the woman who called me is true of most. Most people would rather talk about what is going wrong in there life and feel the pain of defeat rather than take the action necessary to experience the good in life and feel the joy of success.

It sounds absolutely insane and that’s because it is. Unfortunately, it is also the absolute truth. People pay $100/hour just to sit in an office with a counselor and talk about everything that is wrong with their life. They leave the office feeling better because they got it all out, and go home to the same issues. They will repeat this behavior for years before considering the idea that merely talking about it isn’t causing change to occur. Women schedule monthly venting sessions with their best girlfriends disguised as girl’s night out. Men meet every weekend to complain about their wives between strokes on the golf course. I am a talker and have chosen speaking as a profession. I have a degree in psychology and believe in the effectiveness of wise counsel. But…at some point we have to stop talking and start doing.

We have created a generation of talkers. From phone calls to texting…facebooking to tweeting…if you have something to get off of your chest, there is a space designated for you to say what’s on your mind. Well, I have a question for you. How do you think your life would be if you replaced your words with action? If, instead of talking about the relationship you are in that you hate, you decided to take the action necessary to change it. If, instead of ranting about how you could do a better job than your boss, you developed a business plan and launched our own business.

I have a weekend challenge for you. For the next 3 days, I want you to talk less and act more. Every time you feel the need to rant and complain about something, I want you to replace those words with action. If there is something that someone else is doing that you know you can do better…do it better! If there is a relationship that is causing you grief, fix it or get rid of it! If you are going to get anything out of life, it is going to be by your own God-given power to get it…

…Enough said!

To Blog…Nakeia