Comments on: Dangerous Ideas: Action is Overrated http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/ Decoding Patterns of Success Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:32:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Alexis http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-24638 Alexis Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:11:53 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-24638 I have to agree and disagree with you on this one. Action breeds success, inaction does not breed success. Its that simple. Everyone who Failed and succeeded took action, but Everyone who DIDN'T take action failed. I do agree with you on what Steve Martin said. Diligence, strong, directed work towards a goal will make you better and will make you hard to NOT be ignored, just like all the greats in anything. I also agree on what you said about the sex pistols and how thousands of small favorable things combined together to create and auspicious result. The social context, where they were born, current trends, etc. Just like Bill gates got lucky with thousands of these little things that had a huge effect. (going to small private school that had computers at the time, being exposed to hundreds of hours of programming, having parents who were well off enough to support his then expensive endeavor) In the end action is the key, you have to go out there and do something in order for strong change to take place. You can think for ages and not take action, because as Tim ferris says "the time is never write". Back then when bill gates and sex pistols made their decision they weren't thinking about whether everything was favorable they kind of just made the decisions they saw fit at the time. In the end everything you've ever done or has happened to you has brought you to where you are now, and that is whats so strong about action, it can profoundly change the present-future and can have compounding effects. Just like George Leonard wrote in his book Mastery Constant effort and undergoing consistent repetitive motions in order to get the hang of things and truly learn things to the bone so to speak is what can make one truly incredible and passionate about something. In conclusion, In order for one to become extremely succesfull in something they must be willing to Fall in love with the journey, not the success, this what separates the greatest from the rest. I have to agree and disagree with you on this one. Action breeds success, inaction does not breed success. Its that simple. Everyone who Failed and succeeded took action, but Everyone who DIDN’T take action failed. I do agree with you on what Steve Martin said. Diligence, strong, directed work towards a goal will make you better and will make you hard to NOT be ignored, just like all the greats in anything.

I also agree on what you said about the sex pistols and how thousands of small favorable things combined together to create and auspicious result. The social context, where they were born, current trends, etc. Just like Bill gates got lucky with thousands of these little things that had a huge effect. (going to small private school that had computers at the time, being exposed to hundreds of hours of programming, having parents who were well off enough to support his then expensive endeavor)

In the end action is the key, you have to go out there and do something in order for strong change to take place. You can think for ages and not take action, because as Tim ferris says “the time is never write”. Back then when bill gates and sex pistols made their decision they weren’t thinking about whether everything was favorable they kind of just made the decisions they saw fit at the time.

In the end everything you’ve ever done or has happened to you has brought you to where you are now, and that is whats so strong about action, it can profoundly change the present-future and can have compounding effects. Just like George Leonard wrote in his book Mastery Constant effort and undergoing consistent repetitive motions in order to get the hang of things and truly learn things to the bone so to speak is what can make one truly incredible and passionate about something. In conclusion, In order for one to become extremely succesfull in something they must be willing to Fall in love with the journey, not the success, this what separates the greatest from the rest.

]]> By: Jackie Wu http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-11020 Jackie Wu Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:52:16 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-11020 I think an interesting way to look at this is with economics. It's an idea that isn't fully fleshed out yet but I'll try to explain a little bit. Remember from your college Econ 101 class, about the output maximizing rule? Your professor said something like, in order for a firm to maximize output, they have to set marginal utility of all goods per price so they are equal. Set the marginal product for good A divided by price of A to the marginal product of good B over price B. We can take this economics analogy to analyzing taking action, by substituting some terms. Basically what this says is that to maximize return (happiness, expertise, money, awesomeness, ...) from our actions, we should act on whatever gives us the most utility at that time. But because of the principle of diminishing marginal productivity, putting more hours into that same action will give less and less return, until a point where doing something else will give more return per cost. So with your Sex Pistols example, the band could either spend time playing the same-old music every other band was playing (low marginal return per cost, in terms of becoming a band that would stand out), or spend time inventing a new sound (high marginal return per cost). They should keep spending time inventing a new sound until doing something else would provide greater benefit (sleeping, eating in the short-term; changing their type of music if they still want to be #1 on the billboards in the long term, as examples.) Anyway, that's my quick economics idea in response to your post. I think an interesting way to look at this is with economics. It’s an idea that isn’t fully fleshed out yet but I’ll try to explain a little bit. Remember from your college Econ 101 class, about the output maximizing rule? Your professor said something like, in order for a firm to maximize output, they have to set marginal utility of all goods per price so they are equal. Set the marginal product for good A divided by price of A to the marginal product of good B over price B. We can take this economics analogy to analyzing taking action, by substituting some terms. Basically what this says is that to maximize return (happiness, expertise, money, awesomeness, …) from our actions, we should act on whatever gives us the most utility at that time. But because of the principle of diminishing marginal productivity, putting more hours into that same action will give less and less return, until a point where doing something else will give more return per cost.
So with your Sex Pistols example, the band could either spend time playing the same-old music every other band was playing (low marginal return per cost, in terms of becoming a band that would stand out), or spend time inventing a new sound (high marginal return per cost). They should keep spending time inventing a new sound until doing something else would provide greater benefit (sleeping, eating in the short-term; changing their type of music if they still want to be #1 on the billboards in the long term, as examples.)

Anyway, that’s my quick economics idea in response to your post.

]]> By: mann gegen mann http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-9785 mann gegen mann Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:06:15 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-9785 Your wrong, I will make it as a cage fighter! Sob sob :( Good article, though slightly dream crushing Your wrong, I will make it as a cage fighter! Sob sob :(
Good article, though slightly dream crushing

]]> By: Study Hacks » Blog Archive » Dangerous Ideas: Getting Started is Overrated http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-6093 Study Hacks » Blog Archive » Dangerous Ideas: Getting Started is Overrated Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:18:01 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-6093 [...] Dangerous Ideas: Action is Overrated [...]

[...] Dangerous Ideas: Action is Overrated [...]

]]> By: Study Hacks http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-5324 Study Hacks Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:53:01 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-5324 @Vic: Interesting points. My issue with The Dip is that it remains unclear to me how to identify when you are in a dip or a dead-end. Furthermore, it leaves out the key idea that you sometimes need the *right* actions to move past a dip. In other words, what you do matters. It's decoding these decisions for specific scenarios that interests me... @Vic:

Interesting points. My issue with The Dip is that it remains unclear to me how to identify when you are in a dip or a dead-end. Furthermore, it leaves out the key idea that you sometimes need the *right* actions to move past a dip. In other words, what you do matters. It’s decoding these decisions for specific scenarios that interests me…

]]> By: Vic http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-5321 Vic Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:20:40 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-5321 One definition of "luck" is when preparedness meets opportunity. The <em>actions</em> of an individual, if they result in the right kind of preparedness, make it possible for them to take advantage of their particular circumstances. The trick, then, is to be able to identify the actions that result in the appropriate preparedness. These musicians may not have known that the Sex Pistols were on the forefront of a new musical paradigm when they stepped into the concert hall to listen, but their current level of preparedness let them take appropriate action as the paradigm unfolded. This is why strategic quitting is a key point of <strong>The Dip</strong>. The important skill to learn is how to identify appropriate action for the current environment, and quit those actions that become inappropriate as the environment changes. One definition of “luck” is when preparedness meets opportunity. The actions of an individual, if they result in the right kind of preparedness, make it possible for them to take advantage of their particular circumstances. The trick, then, is to be able to identify the actions that result in the appropriate preparedness. These musicians may not have known that the Sex Pistols were on the forefront of a new musical paradigm when they stepped into the concert hall to listen, but their current level of preparedness let them take appropriate action as the paradigm unfolded. This is why strategic quitting is a key point of The Dip. The important skill to learn is how to identify appropriate action for the current environment, and quit those actions that become inappropriate as the environment changes.

]]> By: Scott H Young » Friday Links 08-03-14 http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-4876 Scott H Young » Friday Links 08-03-14 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:01:08 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-4876 [...] Action is Overrated - Cal Newport discusses the importance of not just doing a lot of work, but doing a lot of work in an opportunity that will pay off. I previously wrote a similar idea about the myth of effort. [...]

[...] Action is Overrated – Cal Newport discusses the importance of not just doing a lot of work, but doing a lot of work in an opportunity that will pay off. I previously wrote a similar idea about the myth of effort. [...]

]]> By: Study Hacks http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-4824 Study Hacks Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:47:25 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-4824 @Derrick: I wrote a post about The Dip over the summer (should show up in a search). Really interesting book. Though it frustrates me in that it didn't seem to offer enough meat in terms of identifying whether or not your were in a dip or a dead in. @Derrick:

I wrote a post about The Dip over the summer (should show up in a search). Really interesting book. Though it frustrates me in that it didn’t seem to offer enough meat in terms of identifying whether or not your were in a dip or a dead in.

]]> By: Derrick Kwa http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-4767 Derrick Kwa Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:32:29 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-4767 Good post, and couldn't agree more. Reminds me of Seth Godin's book, The Dip. Good post, and couldn’t agree more.

Reminds me of Seth Godin’s book, The Dip.

]]> By: Study Hacks http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/03/07/dangerous-ideas-action-is-overrated/#comment-4726 Study Hacks Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:32:48 +0000 http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=293#comment-4726 @Jake: It's okay if it's my blog... @Jake:

It’s okay if it’s my blog…

]]>