13236: A Bias For Action? Or A Knee-Jerk Reaction?

Raw transcript:

you’ve probably heard me say that uh one
of the things that you should strive for
if you really want to be effective as a
performer in our changing world in our
wacky who knows what’s coming kind of
world is to have a bias for
action and recently there was uh a great
illustration of the difference between a
bias for action and a really weird
knee-jerk reaction
there is a difference and I want to talk
about that difference in this episode of
the VO Heroes
podcast so um
recently uh could be any number of
different moments but recently there
were some issues with our airlines in
this country
um problem with uh software grounded a
bunch of flights canceled a bunch of
flights and people were scrambling
people were trying to figure out how to
uh take care of their schedules their
itineraries their trips
etc and uh having a bias for action
rather than uh oh well let’s just go
home you know it makes a difference and
then there were people who did this
this is a screenshot from Reddit which I
find to be endlessly
entertaining and not just am I the
[ __ ] uh subreddit but all these other
Reddits and this just was on the front
page and I went and I looked at this and
I thought to myself this is not having a
bias for
action you know they essentially
cancelled their American Express credit
cards with Delta they had Delta branded
American Express credit cards or
something and they did this because they
were so
upset with Delta for screwing up their
trips uh I don’t see how this
helps you know having a bias for action
means having a bias for something that’s
effective when you’re looking at and you
may have to go through a number of
actions to find something that is
effective
but having a knee-jerk reaction that’s
simply emotional it’s not AMX’s fault
it’s not the credit card processor’s
fault the money is barely going to be
going to Delta if there’s any revenue
share off of a credit card there’s
already very small
margins i’m sure none of this passed
through that couple’s head when when
they decided that the way to get back at
Delta for screwing up their trip was to
cancel their credit cards
um when you have a bias for action take
just a moment and say “Okay is this
something that’s an emotional uh
reaction just because I’m upset just
because I’m frustrated just because I’m
angry or is this something that is going
to move me toward my goal?” As opposed
to not doing anything to move you toward
your goal if anything this did not move
them toward any goal of fixing what was
going wrong with their trips in fact if
anything it made it harder
so it’s not a bias for action any action
anything any time it is a bias for
action with some maybe minimal but some
thought to it how is this going to
affect the situation how is this going
to affect the the the correction of
whatever is going wrong for me um when
you have an option just take a moment
take a breath and then move forward what
I want to avoid with the the concept of
a bias for action why I encourage you to
have a bias for action when it comes to
performing writing etc you know just sit
down and write just sit down and do work
just sit down and you know have have a
leaning towards doing something rather
than not doing something
that’s the sum and substance of why I
say have a bias for action because
inaction no action whatsoever if I just
leave it alone um you know that rarely
moves the dial uh we do have another
episode I’m realizing as I’m saying it
about how some problems just work
themselves out if you’re patient but
there’s some there’s some there’s some
bedrock to that that’s a little bit
different from this um try to be kind to
yourself when you’re when you’re having
this bias for action and ask yourself is
this cutting my nose off despite my face
or is this actually going to move me
toward my goal i tell me what you think
when you saw when you saw that
screenshot what did you think did you
think “Oh why did they do that?” Or did
you think “Oh good for them.” You know
let me let me know in the comments below
i’d love to know what your thoughts are
on this what your thoughts are on having
a bias for action giving thought to that
action uh you can hit the like button
you can hit the uh subscribe button to
subscribe to my channel uh notification
bell we’ll let you know when the next
episode comes out uh leave me a comment
on vioherooes.com that’s where the
conversation is nice and respectful and
we have a bias for action there but and
if you want to share this with uh
another performer or writer that you
feel like really jumps to jumps to
conclusions and does things just you
know a little bit too quickly and a
little bit thoughtlessly feel free i I’m
not casting aspir i’m trying to help
just trying to help i’d appreciate that
i’m David H lawrence the 17th i thank
you so much for watching and for
listening and I will see you in the next
episode of the Video Heroes podcast

(from YouTube)