About having way much theory without action

[Illusory Self]

kind of just trying to get the bottom of why I consumed and know loads of personal development theory without taking any action for such a long time. It can become such a bad trap imo, knowing everything you need to do to improve yourself but fail to actually take action. 

I genuinely don't understand why that was the case, maybe it feels good to me to have some positive idea of future self in my mind. 

 

I think the issues go a lot deeper though probably as to why.. I just consume loads of content without any action. 

 

I would feel the need to take action but only successfully doing habits for like 3-4 days and always slip up beating myself up etc.. 

 

I guess I am still 26 and recently actually started taking action. I suppose sometimes I kind of beat myself up for past mistakes but at the same time I am still young and can course correct. 

 

Has anyone else fallen into this trap? 

 

And what do you think the reasons are for this? I would just consume personal development everyday but do nothing with the information given and feel bad about myself. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Illusory Self

[Yarco]

Just gathering the theory and then imagining yourself taking action... that's enough to trick your brain into thinking that you're actually taking action. So your brain releases all the feel-good reward chemicals, and you feel like you've actually accomplished something, without any of the work.

Knowing vs doing, is like the personal development equivalent of porn vs sex. 

Taking action always comes with some risk of failure, so it can be hard to make that leap from knowing to doing.

The good news is at least you have all that theory and knowledge built up. That puts you ahead of people who spent all of their time watching Netflix and prank videos instead, at least. Now you just need to motivate yourself to actually use the information.

Start slow. Pick one specific topic or area of personal development, self-help, business, or whatever. Then devote 1 hour every day that you'd normally spend consuming content, to actually taking action instead.