Just Do It

Knowledge builds upon knowledge. If you study two different fields of knowledge, you inevitably discover connections between them. The more I study physical fitness, the more associations I discover between it and economics.

Ludwig von Mises in his magnum opus Human Action opens part one with the chapter appropriately titled Acting Man wherein he describes the field of praxeology, the study of human action. Whether you subscribe to the Austrian tradition of economics or not, I would highly recommend reading part one of Human Action. What it states applies to many fields including physical fitness. For the purposes of this post, I will open with the following excerpt:

To express wishes and hopes and to announce planned action may be forms of action in so far as they aim in themselves at the realization of a certain purpose. But they must not be confused with the actions to which they refer. They are not identical with the actions they announce, recommend, or reject. Action is a real thing. What counts is a man's total behavior, and not his talk about planned but not realized acts.

Here is where most people falter. They recognize that they exist in a less satisfactory state and express a desire to move to a more satisfactory state and that's where they stop. They never take action the action that they express.

This came up recently in a conversation between a friend and myself. More than a year ago after an uncomfortable discussion with her doctor she had expressed a desire to lose weight and improve her overall fitness. To her credit, she sought out a personal trainer. Unfortunately she found a personal trainer who is too ready to tell clients what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. My friend went through a few life changes that let her slip into the vortex of 'being too busy.' She had reverted to old dietary habits and was skipping workout sessions. The progress she made over the last year started to slip away.

This is when her personal trainer should've taken a page from Mises and told her that expressing intent and taking action towards achieving that intent are not the same. Instead she said a bunch of platitudes like saying that the important part is wanting the change. The implication being that wanting the change will motivate my friend to take action 'when she's ready.' While there are efforts that can be obtained through words, physical fitness isn't one of them.

Friends don't come to me to hear what they want to hear. They come to me to hear my opinion, which is typically expressed with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. My friend explained her recent situation. I told her she should find a different personal trainer, one who is willing to be upfront with clients. I closed with a phrase that I'm probably saying too often now, "To quote the Nike motto, you need to 'just do it.'"

From a praxeological perspective, wanting to lose weight and be more physically fit is no different than wanting a new car or house. You exists in a less satisfactory state; being fat, unfit, without a new car, or without a new house; and you want substitute it with a more satisfactory state. Expressing your desire is an action, but it is not the action being expressed. Expressing a desire to lose weight is the act of expression, not the act of controlling calories or exercising.

In order to realize your goals in life, you need to perform the actions you express. Wanting the change, despite the claims of a certain personal trainer, is not the important part. It is a part, you need to feel that you are in a less satisfactory state before you can move to a more satisfactory one, but it is not the part that will allow you to realize your goal.