When examining the psychology behind human behavior and trying to identify critical places in life where important life changes occur, one place of particular interest is when a great idea move from mere thought, to an actual behavior. In fact, a famous quote by Mary Kay Ash best sums up the point I am trying to make:
Ideas are a dime a dozen; people who implement ideas into action are priceless.
If you stop to think about, everybody around you right now has at least one idea (and probably many more) that is just marinating in their mind, as opposed to the idea being put into action. What stops these ideas from coming to fruition? And are people who take the action step from thought-to-behavior smarter than those who only think about their ideas? Are they harder working? Do they have extraordinary mental health? Are they better in any measurable way? While these questions can be debated, what we do know is that outcomes are very different when comparing those who think about doing things, versus those who actually do things.
Applying the bell-shaped curve
The bell-shaped curve is a graphical representation of a normal distribution, with most scores at the height of the bell and fewer scores to the right and left of the peak of the bell. The bell curve is widely used in statistics, probability theory, and other disciplines to model and analyze data, and it can also be used when examining those who think about doing, compared to those who actually do. But before we go there, let me give you a simple example of how the bell-shaped curve can be more easily understood. If the average men’s shoe size is a 10, we would expect that if we asked the next 100 random men we meet what their shoe size is most would likely range from around a 9.5-10.5. In fact, using the bell-shaped curve you could predict that right around 68% of the men you ask will score in that range. But what about the remaining 32% and their shoe sizes?
Using the same shoe example we would expect fewer smaller shoe sizes, as well as few bigger shoe sizes after accounting for 68% of men who scored in the average (around size 10) range — and that’s exactly what happens. A few men will report wearing a size 6/6.5 (small feet), and a few men will report wearing a 13/14 shoe size (big feet!). The image below shows what a normal distribution looks like, and how shoe sizes would distribute from the top of the bell (average size) to the smaller slopes left and right that show smaller numbers of men with atypical sized feet.
When talking about people and narrowing in on those who think, versus those who do, we can apply the same bell-shaped curve. For example, if there are 100 students sitting in a lecture hall and the professor offers an important direction or piece of advice, we can reasonably expect the following to occur (based on the bell-shaped curve):
- Around 68% of students will think about the tip (no action). This is the top of the bell.
- The remaining roughly 32% will split, with half being on the left of the curve (you might think of these people as barely awake in class, not particularly interested in what the professor is saying). The remaining half to the right of the curve, however, are especially interesting.
- The 16% to the right of the curve are individuals very likely to not only think about the ideas they learn, but to actually take action steps based on the new information. When you look at the illustration above pay special attention to that roughly 2% on the far right side — those are the shakers and movers, the dreamers, and the ones that make the world go around.
- In summary, most people in this example will think about an idea, a few will snooze through the advice, but a few remarkable people (roughly 2, in fact) will “turn those ideas into action!”
Final thoughts
Taking action does not require being a genius, coming from a wealthy family, having superior mental health, or possessing any other super-natural human talent. Sometimes it simply comes down to who wants it more, and the momentum that flows from wanting to be the best. It might also be that people who take action also take comfort in knowing that in any given example relating to thoughts-action, most people (statistically speaking) are simply going to sit passively with what they learn — creating an amazing opportunity to surpass the competition. So, are you standing on the sidelines, or getting in the game?
drstankovich.com
