How to Start Taking Action and Overcome Self-Sabotage (3 Key Actions)

AVAlexander Volchek

People come to me and say, “I understand everything, but I do not act. What should I do about it? How do I work through it?” A person tells themselves, “I know exactly what to do, but I simply do not do it. I know how to find a new job, but I do not do it. I know what I need to do in our relationship, but I do not do it. I know how to start a business, but I do not do it. I know how to work things out with my children, but I do not do it. I know how to resolve my financial issue, but I do not do it.” People find themselves saying, “I know, but I do not act. What should I do next?” This is a pressing subject. Of course, there is an earlier stage, when a person simply says, “I do not know what to do.” But today we are examining this particular situation. The first trap is when you tell yourself, “I have understood everything. I have figured it all out.” That is the central issue here. If you are in this situation, it is very important to establish clearly for yourself that you do not understand this system, this structure.

Otherwise, there would be no problem. I have an interesting story. Six months ago, a little more than that now, I began leading meditations in Russian. When the whole idea first came to me, I had a clear sense that I should lead meditations in English. I told myself, “I can easily lead them in English, just as I can in Russian.” I have led dozens in Russian without missing a single Friday. I lead them on Fridays on a separate channel, but I have not made a single one in English. In fact, the English version was simpler. I did not need to lead it live and then post the recording. I only needed to record a meditation and upload it to the channel. It would seem a very simple action for me. I do all sorts of practices and sessions and lead groups, but in more than six months—nine months have already passed—I have not recorded a single meditation in English. Why is this happening? What is it? How do I explain it to myself? One important thing is that I definitely want to do it. I am sure I need to.

But I certainly do not understand why I am not doing it. I do not approach it by making excuses or explaining the reasons to myself: perhaps now is not the time, perhaps the timing in that space is wrong, perhaps I lack certain technical, business, or spiritual skills. For some reason, I simply do not do it. I do not know why. But again, I am sure I need to. Not doing it does not produce anything negative in me, but I cannot say it produces anything positive either. I am still sure I need to start making meditations in English. In a situation like this, the most important thing is not to slip into deceiving yourself. Someone says, “I want to find a new job, but I am not doing it.” You need to explore whether they truly want to work for another company or start their own business, or whether they do not need that and want to remain an employee. Or someone says, “I understand why I do not want to start my own business: first I need to save up capital.” Do they truly understand that they need to accumulate capital to start a business, or is there some other reason behind it?

What is it that produces this whole pattern in you? Someone says, “I understand, but I do not act. It feels as though I lack the strength not to do it.” So do you lack the strength not to act, or what exactly? You say the person lacks faith. If they lack faith, then they have not understood everything. Saying “I have understood everything” is an egotistical structure, an ego structure. More than that, it prevents other movement. You limit yourself by saying you understand it one hundred percent, that you have figured it out completely, without leaving room for observation and exploration. The first thing to do is clarify for yourself that you do not fully understand this area. You cannot understand why it happens. Some things can take years of exploration, years of looking for different causes and reasons for not taking specific actions, and you still may not find them. Again, understanding should not be an end in itself as a way of moving closer to action. Almost every adult has done a great many things without being conscious of them.

That means acting without understanding what was happening, without examining or fully understanding it. People with very mathematical minds, extremely intelligent or logical people, will say they understood what happened, how, and where. But ask someone like that, “Can you explain exactly how you found your wife? Or exactly why your child was born at a particular time?” Usually that raises many questions. In life, a person does a great many things without real, deep analysis, real investigation, or perception of the subject. A great many things. What is important here? Calmly and naturally uncover the reason you are not acting. Do it without taking the position “I know everything.” Recognize a particular reason for not acting, naturally. Or tell yourself, as in my situation with English meditations, “I am not doing it for reasons I do not know.” If you think you have understood everything, calmly identify the reason and say, “I am not looking for a new job because I am afraid I will not be able to handle it—

“Or I am not starting a new business because I am afraid it will not bring in new income.” Calmly and consciously acknowledge that, then look at what to do next. Or: “I am not building a relationship because I am afraid of losing my personal freedom and having to coordinate every step and action with another person.” Or: “I am not having another child because I am afraid of responsibility, and I am an irresponsible person.” Work out the concrete, real reasons you can be certain of for not doing it. There is an important point: some things you do not do because you do not need to experience them or go through them. You have a desire, yet you seem not to take action. Your system of soul and spirit blocks certain actions because you simply do not need to experience them. That is another aspect to observe. But look: you can fall into the ego's trap here and explain everything by saying, “I am not doing this because that is what I need for my karmic experience.” I have posted videos about karmic experience on the channel. One situation worth examining is that often you do not take actions that have nothing to do with you.

For example, someone says, “I want to start a business and earn a million dollars from it, but for some reason I still do not do it.” Are you sure a million dollars is even the figure—

The figure you are meant to have, one you are guaranteed to be able to achieve? Or: “I am not having children because my work is very important right now, and I cannot step away from it.” Are you sure you will be able to have children at all? Or: “I am not building a relationship because I am completely involved in my business right now.” Are you sure you will be able to build a relationship at all? This third step offers another valuable observation: take a realistic look at where you stand. Will this definitely happen, or will it not necessarily happen? What does “not necessarily” mean? Do you allow for the possibility that what you plan may not happen? That you may plan to earn ten thousand dollars, and it may never happen in your life? That you may plan to build a good family, and it may never happen? Do I allow for the possibility that I will never record a meditation in English? Do you allow for it calmly and consciously? Truly allowing for that possibility helps you work with a situation in which something is not meant to happen to you.

It lets you move forward very calmly and truly discover, on the one hand, why you are not doing something, and on the other, take the right next step. Look, the much more important question is not what you have failed to do, but what you need to do at each moment. What do I need to do next at each moment? That is much more important than discussing what you have not done. This may seem like strange logic or a strange pattern, but it really will help you find a solution. I want to add something interesting. When you allow for different possibilities in life, do so realistically, rather than simply allowing for every possible option. If you cannot have children and allow yourself the possibility of having a hundred, that is a false construction. But overall, if you allow for all possible outcomes more or less realistically—both good and bad, equally—even those that are impossible, as in my example about children, allowing for them will make it much easier to take absolutely any step and accomplish absolutely any task in life.

I wish someone had explained this to me and told me about it from the very beginning of my life. When there is no trauma, no blockage, and you have complete freedom—absolute freedom—over whether the outcome is minus a thousand or plus a thousand, when you relate to both in the same way. How to relate to both in the same way is a subject for a separate video. But this is definitely something that creates movement in an enormous number of situations. It creates movement in a huge number of events and aspects of your life and lets you truly study life, see real causes and effects, and make the right decisions about your next step. That is what leads a person to real growth, to truly real growth.