Do not care about what people say but what they do
„I would do it another way!“ „Why have they done something like this?“ „If I could, I would…“ „If only I had enough money…“
Familiar? Have you heard it anywhere? Hopefully, it was not you saying this. Why?
Well, such statements are usually expressed by people who just wonder what they could do if they had a possibility or what one should have done instead of their choice. To talk, to advise or to express opinions is not essentially wrong of course. The point is some people tend to spend time doing this kind of things instead of trying to cope with the problems or solve the situations in reality. Let´s face it a bit more closely.
Ginny would love to open a pet shop, because she loves animals of all kinds, especially the ones one can keep at home and care for. To be honest, it is a pretty difficult thing to do, as she needs to find a proper place for such a shop, to get enough animals from somewhere to have a range to offer to customers, to arrange for all the papers connected with it etc. Apart from this, it will all cost a big amount of money, energy and time. Ginny has two options:
- Tell everyone what idea she has, how brilliant it sounds, what all should be done, how wonderful it will all be when ready etc. and then finally realise nothing of that as it is naturally all too difficult to face and impossible to bear.
- Not to say much about it all, but go and start moving things on. Find a nice place to suit her imaginations about the shop, fill in all the necessary papers and submit them, find a responsible and reliable supplier, equip the future shop as needed, work hard and make money to be able to finance all this etc.
It is just up to her what way she will take to either fulfil her dream or to abandon it. However, the truth is, the more she talks about it, the less she actually builds it. And therein lies the rub.
Guess what is easier – talking or working? Naturally talking. It takes not much, just opening and closing your mouth. And on the top of that it looks great! Many people are ready to listen and not exceptionally to believe anything one says. On the other hand, working itself is not attractive much. It usually takes a lot of effort and the results are seldom as brilliant as when described by word of mouth.
So… we can not wonder there are more people doing „nothing“or giving up than the ones overcoming hurdles, since it is definitelly true the society tend to believe what we talk about without checking the reality.
Thus, if you want people to stop hiding behind their words, stop believing their speeches. Insist on their showing you what precisely they have produced.
Exercises:
- Fill in the rests of the following sentences:
If I won a lot of money, I would _______________________ .
If only I ________________________.
My partner would get angry, if I _______________________.
___________ would help me, if I needed it.
- Find the synonyms for the following words in the text:
to reckon –
accurately –
because –
just –
hard –
to fund –
- Find the antonyms for the following words in the text:
possible –
dishonest –
more difficult –
on one hand –
more –
unnecessary –
- Fill in the following:
Write two names of people who build more than talk about it:
- _________________________
- _________________________
Now write two valuable things they have done for each of them :
- _________________________
- _________________________
