Do Things

The difference between people who lead full lives and people who live empty lives is pretty simple. Look around you. Look at your friends, your family, your acquaintances, your co-workers. Who are the ones who seem to be the happiest? The most content?People who act and do things are busy and happy and fulfilled. People who don’t are not.

I believe it was Albert Einstein who thought people should not be too conscious of why and how they want to accomplish something. They should just do it.

I tend to be that kind of person.

Think about this story: An elementary school teacher believed that our brains get turned on by action. The teacher asked her students to make up a story each day and recite it before the class. There was a painfully shy boy in the class who insisted on waiting until he was inspired to make up the perfect story. After many refusals the exasperated teacher finally asked him to stand in front of the classroom’s piano and make up a story about a dog. In a trembling voice, the boy told a story about a dog who jumped on a piano keyboard and stepped on the keys up and down making music and learned how to play the piano. The class loved his story.

Each time he was asked, he would tell the same story using different animals over and over: the cat who learned to play the piano; the rabbit; the mouse; the squirrel; the pony and so on. One day there was a subtle change. The boy told the story about the dog who taught her puppy how to play. Then it was back to same old routine: the cat who taught her kitten how to play the piano; the bird who taught her hatchling, etc.

Finally, at the end of the year, the teacher announced a story-telling contest. Everyone would tell a story and the class would vote. When it was the boy’s  turn, everyone expected one of the same old animal variations of his story. Instead, he told a story of how a grand piano taught a baby piano how to play. The children clapped and cheered. Unanimously, they voted his story the best of the year.

The bottom line is this: When you go through the motions of being creative you are energizing your brain. The more times you act, the more active your brain becomes and the more creative you become.

What a person thinks or believes is of little consequence until they act.

Do things.