The Edward Gibbon classic on my shelf, 3000 pages of small print, published in 1776, before typewriters, while few knew he was doing it at all.
It’s a funny thing about our internal psyche, if it overhears a lot of our talking about doing something, it figures it’s already done.
And causes us to be satisfied with less than what we can be.
I remember a job I had where ideas were in high esteem. After creative sessions, my white board was so full of exuberant thought I requisitioned a new one that preserved the session with a photocopy. My legacy in that job? A fancy white board for the next guy.
I hope I left more than that, but as they say: When all is said in done, there’s more said than done.
What we need are examples like Edward Gibbon, writer the three-volume epic History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. After it was published, people remarked that they didn’t even know he had such an interest, not to mention the energy, and scope.
The virtue is not to never voice our plans. There is, in fact, a certain clarifying help in doing so. Rather it’s to be careful about only talking and only dreaming. The results of such activities dissipate into air. Only action is concrete.
To quote Sophocles: “Heaven never helps the man who will not act.”
Or Disraeli: “Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.”
Carlyle: “Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”
Emerson: “Every noble activity makes room for itself.”
Or from our friend Anonymous: “Spare minutes are the gold-dust of time.”
It’s not what we say but what we do that shows who we are. “Talks a lot,” or “Dreams a lot” are not appellations that appeal.
Now, where was I before I started all this talking?
_____________________
*Ecclesiastes 5:7
Next: The End is Better than the Beginning. Coming Thursday.
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
9:19 am
Wow, Hyatt–that really blessed me today. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with all that I have to do that I waste time thinking about it instead of getting up and DOING it!! This was very inspiring to me, thank you.
10:07 am
Welcome Traci, a first time commenter, and the first comment of the day. Now we’re mutually inspired.
10:49 am
Good Sophocles line and good practical helps from an artist to other artists. I have found that too much introspection(talking to yourself) can paralize as well. Such is the fate of too many artists that never put a brush to canvas.
Too much dreaming is only slightly better than never dreaming at all.
Pastor Adam Barton
Akron, Ohio
11:16 am
Good thoughts, Hyatt. You’ve really got to wonder … what, with all the seminars, workshops, Congressional sessions, etc. not to mention all of the isolated brain storms taking place as we speak … just what is the ratio of dreaming to doing in our time?
11:49 am
Agreed.
12:29 pm
Ha! I one word answer. I get it.
2:05 pm
Love quote by “anonymous”! Time is golden….
6:41 am
Hey, I think I bought that white board for you. :-)
I’m sure you left more than you know. Lord knows.
These come to mind: creative (deep) thinking and integrity.
Thank you for this blog!!
7:53 am
Thanks, Rocky, for the memory. Yes, you were director of purchases. How many moves ago for each of us? Now you’re domiciling handsomely in Colorado. The Rockies, fittingly.
7:09 pm
I guess dreaming is good, as long as I can make a few things come alive. I love your thought provoking comments Hyatt. You always make me think a bit deeper every time.
8:13 am
Thank again Hyatt…..VERY helpful.