“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Many of us sit around and talk about making changes, some of us then plan on paper and tell others what we are going to do and finally, few of us go on to take action consistently enough to make real changes.

Not taking action is not a failure of character, you are not taking action because you are either overwhelmed by the amount of tasks you have to do, not bothered about your goals or you do not know how to start. Today we will talk about the different ways you react to taking actions, how these different reactions may stop you from taking action, how you can identify them and manage them so that you are free to take action.

When it comes to taking action there are 4 types of personalities that typically appear and you may recognise some of these traits in yourself. Please note that for the purpose of writing this clearly and without confusion I have kept them to male references but these apply to the ladies as well.

The 4 personality types are:

1. The all-or-nothing guy
2. The to-do list guy
3. The yes-but guy
4. This-won’t-work guy

The all-or-nothing guy is the one who jumps headfirst into a new project without really thinking about the what-ifs. He may hop from one project to the next because he only does things at full speed and when the results don’t happen fast enough, his interest wanes and he leaves behind many unfinished projects. People might describe this guy as “spontaneous” or “flighty” or “fearless”.

The to-do list guy may be obsessed with the GTD movement, he may have numerous apps on his smart phone for productivity and tracking of many things like food intake, exercise, money and of course, tasks. This guy may become so obsessed with checking things off a list that he loses sight of why he is doing those things in the first place. He may also set way too many tasks and may also become incredibly discouraged if he is unable to tick the items off. People might describe this guy as “meticulous” or “tightly wound” or “anal-retentive”.

The yes-but guy is the guy who has an argument for everything. You know the one who says “yes, but what if….” whenever anyone (including himself!) makes a suggestion about anything. He is not necessarily the party pooper but by constantly second guessing his and other people’s views and findings, he runs the risk of never doing anything because he always needs more opinions to prove it is the right way forward. People might think of him as “fussy” and “hard to please”.

This-won’t-work guy is more common than you think. If you have ever read about a diet or exercise and think this won’t work for you then you know what I’m saying. This guy here is convinced that nothing works for him because he is such a unique individual and hence something that works for millions of others will not work for him just because. He might be known as “Mr Know-it-all”.

I have outlined the personalities here so that you can first see how you behave. Please note that there is nothing wrong with the personalities here, we are who we are so this is simply a way for you to see your behaviour so that you know how to get yourself moving forward and not stagnating.

To help you see clearly which personality mostly closely resembles you, here are some examples to help you along:

Imagine your aim is to get fitter and lose weight, if you are the all-or-nothing guy, you would just get a pair of running shoes and go to the gym tomorrow. You may go everyday because you are an all or nothing kind of person and within two weeks of bombarding your body with intense exercise, you injure yourself and then have to stop working out altogether for the next 3 weeks which sets you back. You reckon since you aren’t working out everyday you might as well not work out at all. Before you know it, you leap headfirst into the next project.

Next, if you were the to-do list guy, then your first port of call would be downloading an app so that you can track when you work out, how much you work out, your heart rate, your caloric expenditure, what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat and the list goes on. Of course you would have clearly marked schedules and tasks in your calendar and you might even physically tick them off so that you see the tasks you have completed. Within two weeks of this manically noting everything down, you find yourself spending more time filling in data than taking action.

If you were the yes-but guy you will first do your research on the best shoes to wear to minimise injuries, the best workouts to do to ensure maximum energy expenditure, what are the healthy foods to eat. You would make a great risk and crisis management guy because you are thinking of all the scenarios that may happen. By overthinking everything you run the risk of being paranoid of all situations and not do anything simply because you feel unprepared.

As a this-won’t-work guy, you are reluctant to try any workout nor diet plan because you just “know” that it won’t work for you. This would hinder your progress because before you take any action you have already decided that nothing works for you. In essence, you have already ‘failed’ that action by not doing anything at all.

Who are you?

First of all, you need to take a look at yourself and decide which of these personalities do you fall under especially when faced with a task to do or a goal to meet? Think about what you say, do or think about before and during a task. This requires you to tune in to your behaviour but it shouldn’t be difficult, just become more aware of your thoughts and behaviour.

Now that you know who you are, here are ways to stop yourself from sinking further into zero action.

1. The all-or-nothing guy
As the all-or-nothing guy, you need to stop and think before you leap in. You need to think about what you realistically can do and not try to over-reach to the point of burnout or injury because that will only hold you back and you will find it a constant struggle to restart your steps. You are obviously not afraid to try new stuff, which is great. However, it would be wise to do it step at a time and finish rather than blowing off all of your energy in one go and then abandoning a project.

2. The to-do list guy
Ok to-do-list person, put down the app and forget about charting everything. By nature you are a tracking kind of person anyway so I am sure even if you do not use an app, you will still be tracking the data either in your mind or on paper. It’s not a bad thing to track your progress but try to remind yourself why you are doing this and take the time to enjoy the process of whatever it is you are working towards. Life is too short to be crunching data all the time.

3. The yes-but guy
Put that scientific research paper down and just get on with it already. There are many things you can prepare for and many things you cannot. You need to still prepare but don’t get caught up with all eventualities because that is simply not going to happen. Next time you have a goal, do your basic research and move on. Stop hovering for second opinions.

4. This-won’t-work guy
Silence the naysayers in your head. You don’t know whether something works or does not work if you do not try it out. There are many others who have tried and tested many different ways of doing things and there are some things that just do not require reinvention. By using a tried and tested method or theory you save yourself so much time and energy so be open-minded.

In conclusion:

All of us behave differently when it comes to taking actions, no behaviour is better than the other. The personalities above may interchange depending on the tasks involved and this is by no means an exhaustive look at any kind of behaviour. This is a short guide to helping you become more aware of your thought process. By understanding how you react when it comes to taking actions you are better equipped to stop, see your behaviour from another perspective and then make the necessary adaptations.

Do you know which personality are you when it comes to achieving goals or taking actions? Does this change the way you think about your behaviours and subsequently how you might react?