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Observers vs. Doers

If we are so busy and focused on what others are doing: we are considered an observer.

My dad and all my coaches from 2nd grade into college said the same thing:

You’re either going watch other people play and observe what’s happening on the court or you are going to be a doer. You’re going to be apart of it. You going to be in it. Involved. You’re not going to think about all the ends and outs, the mechanics, or techniques that we practiced.

I think that this is sometimes true in life: we are so busy judging, watching and observing others. Because in reality we don’t want to see ourselves. We dont want to tell ourselves we aren’t doing well. It is hard to face ourselves and be like: 

  • I didn’t come through, 
  • I did fail that person, 
  • I was inconsistent in my approaches: leadership, decisions, or communication
  • I was scared because I was watching everyone else, comparing myself to them.

    But don’t you see?

    God wants us to be involved, Be alive,and be in the game.

    We are never going to score points if we are watching everyone else score points. We are never going to be able to dunk on anyone if we aren’t trying. 

    We are scared of what the enemy is going to do, so afraid of what we may fail from; that it places us in a position of being stagnant. 

    We are still. 

    When does it change and shift from being an observer to being a player?

    “Big time players, make big time plays in big time games.”

    -Santana Moss

    And what that means to me is:

    When you have a calling in your life. When you have a purpose in your life that is so clearly defined. When your time to rise up comes, there is no hesitation or thinking about it. No wondering if your mechanics are correct. You just do it. Do it.

    This is who you are. Created for this purpose, and for this role. You have to switch gears from a watcher to a player, get involved, and get in the game.

    Once we stop observing others live the life we want to live, we can have the courage to live it ourselves.

    Be a doer.

    mmonroe11

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    One response to “Observers vs. Doers”

    1. iqiyou Avatar
      iqiyou

      Interesting. I read a book called “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.” It speaks to the fundamental difference between choosing to meet the world in thought, and consideration, and meeting it through action.

      I interpret your describing the role of the “watcher” as being somehow inferior to the “doer,” and in that I recognize the same incentive that the above-mentioned book refers to toward extroversion. Culturally, we’ve gathered together an avalanche of justifications for pushing ourselves to take action, whether or not we have considered those actions and their consequences. I say this even seeing your caveat that “when you have a calling in life…” then its time to take action. As the scientist journalist Winifred Gallagher writes: “The glory of the disposition that stops to consider stimuli rather than rushing to engage with them is its long association with intellectual and artistic achievement. Neither E=mc2 nor Paradise Lost was dashed off by a party animal.” I took this from the book “Quiet.”

      I’m inclined to want to temper your statements with the knowledge that in stillness there is renewal. Even the deepest quiet known to science, the zero point state of energy in reality, is teeming with vibration that can’t seem to be syphoned off by cold or magnetism or anything else (hence “zero point”). We know its there but we can’t get at it. Even the least energetic states of sub-atomic particles have “spin.” There is value in resting, in consideration and acclimation to reality. There is strength in preparation, and practice. Even for a ball-player, observation can often yield targeted strategies that cut through wasted effort and chaos to effectively and efficiently put the points on the board.

      Technically, fiddling with formulas on a chalk board, or wrestling with phrasing in a book is taking action; it is doing. But, it isn’t necessarily driven by a need to score points or even embrace life. Often, the introvert is driven to action by being unable to sit still with their thoughts, seeking inner harmony by sorting things that are outside of them.

      As we grow from infancy, many of us go through periods of extroversion and introversion, and I think Moms and Dads everywhere struggle with ways to help or drive us. Some are trying to tame their party animals enough to get them to study or build good judgment. Others may have felt the need to prod their children to get out of the house, or take some chances. Some of these motivational things spring from those, I think, and its important to hand those phrases to the right preconditions. Would that someone could have stopped those kids from Columbine, and gotten them to think it through a bit more. Thank goodness someone motivated Buckminster Fuller to keep inventing. It goes both ways.

      Dan Millman’s book “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior,” I think does a nice job of balancing both ideals — quiet and action. It suggests, among other things, that meditation is the “action of inaction.” It is conscientiously choosing stillness and peace, and inviting those states to restore you to readiness. This is different from what you write above, which implies stillness can become stagnancy, and that’s very true. It depends, I suppose on the intent. The book also suggests that life is best lived as a warrior, who takes action when it is called for, and the timing is right.

      Timing, I think is a key concept that people don’t talk about, enough. We act as though the moment we can’t stand waiting anymore, or when we’ve finally gotten ourselves off the couch automatically constitutes divine intervention. That must be the right time, right? I think timing is a more subtle thing, and when I have been in the thick of activity, I look for it. But, then, I’m an introvert. Its very like me to be in the thick of action and still be considering everything deeply. I’m paraphrasing now from “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior,” that the warrior cultivates the capacity to take action at the right time, and to recognize the right timing. Then she acts without hesitation. See how the “without hesitation” only follows careful consideration and preparation?

      I take from the above that while we’re observing, we need to keep in mind that we may be called upon to play, to take part. While we’re meeting the world with our insides, we would do well to prepare ourselves to share some of all that goodness with the rest of the world. Just as Extroverts may benefit from taking some time to introvert, in order to restore and renew, Introverts could understand that in a communal species, and social world, coming out sometimes to play can also be healing.

      Thanks again for sharing.

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