My name’s Ben and I’m an addict. It’s interesting, actually, I recognized my tendency for addictive behavior in high school. Back then, it was an MMORPG (massive multi-player online role-playing game). The relationship I had with World of Warcraft made it clear: I have incredibly addictive behavior. (Remind me to never try heroin.) More recently, my addiction has a new form.

I’m addicted to personal development.

I’ve spent thousands of dollars and countless hours soaking up books, hiring coaches, taking courses, listening to podcasts, joining masterminds, and attending conferences. I’ve woken up at 5:00 am to follow a set of morning rituals. I’ve practiced daily journaling. And I’ve used meditation, visualization, and even hypnosis in the name of self-development.

This has been my life for years. And in several ways, still is. But I’ve realized something…

I’m just a junkie looking for his next fix. 

The books, coaches, courses, podcasts, masterminds, and conferences are often nothing more than a massive dose of “rah rah” straight to the bloodstream. The personal development and self-help high is immediate.

“I can do it. I can do anything.”

As with any addiction, it escalates.

Before long, I needed heavier, more frequent doses to achieve the same high: daily reading, podcasts anytime I’m in the car, another coach, another course, a bigger mastermind, a better conference.

Each new thing, masquerading as a great opportunity.

But in reality, they were the next fix—bigger, better, and more expensive.

Realizing this was hard. I mean, personal development, self-help, and continual improvement is why I fell in love with fitness. It’s why I became a coach. And it’s why my life is as awesome as it is, right? I’ve developed it that way.

Wrong.

It just seems like that. The actual truth is completely different. In fact, there’s only one thing that has ever made all of the time, effort, and money I’ve poured into personal development worth it.

Somewhat ironically, it’s not something I read in a book or learned from a mentor. It’s simply taking action.

Action Always Beats Information

All of the personal development and self-help in the world is worthless without action. Period. But there’s a problem.

Personal development junkies are addicted to the info, not the action.

We’re information gatherers. But beyond the pages of notes and quotes I’ve got saved in Evernote, I have nothing to show for my gathering of information. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Don’t get me wrong, the info I have after years of taking copious notes is top notch. Truly. Plenty of golden nuggets from some of the top performers in both fitness and business.

But that information is wasted when there’s no action—no matter how great it is.

You might know how to set up the perfect sales funnel, but you won’t make a cent until you actually launch it. You may know how to be a great coach, but you won’t help anyone until you actually start coaching. And you might know exactly what you need to do to crush your fitness goals, but you won’t make any progress until you actually do it.

Information—and the accompanying high—is great.

But action wins. Every. Single. Time.

Recently, this reality was placed in sharp relief. I mean, deep down I always knew it was true. But now it’s downright obvious. And I want to tell you exactly what happened.

The Action-Slap I Needed

I’m not going to lie. As a recovering personal development junkie, I’ve wasted a lot of time gathering information. There have been long stints of my life where I neither acted on the info I had nor make actual progress.

But like I said, I’m in recovery. And these last few months have shown me how far I’ve come.

It all started a year ago when I moved to Utah.

“Utah? Why Utah?”

If you’re anything like most people I’ve talked to over the last year and a half, you’re probably asking something similar. And I can’t blame anyone for wondering. I mean, I work entirely online and have an office everywhere there’s wifi. Plus, I’m pretty open about the fact that I don’t love living in Utah. It’s great and I loved it while I was in school, but it’s not where I want to settle down.

So why Utah? Well, I had an amazing opportunity.

Actually, amazing doesn’t even do it justice. I was working with an incredible company, doing the things I do best, getting paid well, and building my personal brand in the process.

Not only was it great work, but it fit perfectly with my long-term goals—stuff like building a following, helping thousands with my coaching programs, and changing more lives.

They pitched a too-good-to-be-true plan that just so happened to include moving to Utah.

When I got there, they over-delivered. On everything. At first, things seemed too good to be true. Then the reality was even better. I might have been living in Utah, but I was living the dream.

Every day, I woke up and got to do what I love—help people.

I designed programs, recorded instructional videos, did live Q&As on Facebook, wrote articles, emails, and e-books, created nutrition plans, helped with business development, and absolutely loved it.

Until I walked away from it all.

Why I Walked: The Unexpected Outcome (and End) of My Work

Launch dates came and went. New launch dates were set and missed. I was even promised we’d launch, “No later than September 1.” Yet here I sit, almost a year later, and still no launch.

Last I heard, it’s never going to happen.

What’s more, nearly everything I created—the programs, products, articles, emails, e-books, nutrition plans, and business growth strategies—weren’t even used. They’re all sitting in folders on Google Drive, collecting digital dust.

Turns out what originally seemed too good to be true, wasn’t actually true. 

The amazing opportunity never materialized. My impact didn’t grow. Nobody used the coaching programs I designed, let alone thousands. And I didn’t change more lives.

So I walked away.

Sure, I’m bummed that a year of my time and effort didn’t work out the way we planned. The stuff I created to help people won’t ever see the light of day, which helps nobody.

It isn’t cool, but it’s all good. Such is life, right? Things never go as planned. And to call the journey a waste of time is ignorant foolishness. So all is well.

Frustration happened, but that wasn’t a problem.

Finances, on the other hand, were a problem. A big one.

Setting the Stage with Stress

Suddenly, I was without my main source of income. Yes, I chose to walk. (And it was definitely the right choice.) But that didn’t make the gaping hole in my cash flow any less stressful.

Worse yet, my own business was essentially—and intentionally—put on pause. I was focusing my time and effort on the things that were going to lead to more long-term growth. And had been doing so for over a year.

As you might imagine, that doesn’t make for a booming business.

Some months, it wasn’t even a break-even business. And I was okay with that because I wasn’t playing the short game. My sights were set on bigger growth down the road.

But that growth never happened. It won’t ever happen. And suddenly, I couldn’t make ends meet without it.

My Options: Gather Information or Take Action

Two choices lay ahead of me as I walked away from what used to be a great opportunity. A fork in the road.

I could make the left turn and dive into my usual personal development, making it feel like I’m moving forward. Or I could choose the right path, take action, and actually move forward.

I could have argued that I needed a mega-dose of rah rah. That I needed to meditate, create space, and get my head in the right place. That I needed to get motivated first or find my why. And that I needed to have the perfect plan before moving forward.

I could have. But I didn’t.

Instead, I took action. Immediate and imperfect.

No rah rah. No meditative pondering. I didn’t need motivation. And a perfect plan would only slow actual progress. Ready, fire, aim—by necessity, that was my approach.

The first shot was way off. It didn’t work. (I think I even lost money on it.) So I scrapped it, then aimed, and fired again. It hit.

And guess what happened: The business grew. 

A lot, actually. It more than quintupled, that’s 5x, in a handful of weeks. Not because of any books I read, courses I took, or coaches I called, but because I took action. Even imperfect action.

Now I get to edit, tweak, and optimize (read: aim) before taking action—better action—again (read: fire).

Stop Over Thinking, Take Action

Taking action and gaining experience lead to more personal development than learning about personal development.

Maybe you’re not a recovering personal development junkie like I am. That’s okay. Because, good news, you can replace “personal development” in that sentence with anything you want…

Fat loss, lean gains, EQ, sales, communication skills, healthy relationships, ice cream—anything.

It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to accomplish, you’re getting in your own way by gathering information and over-thinking everything. It’s too much. Better yet, it’s enough.

Take action. Gain experience. Move forward.

Timing won’t be perfect. You can’t create the perfect plan. And there is no magic bullet that you’ll find in the next book, article, or podcast. You may not know it all, but you know enough to get started. You’ll learn as you go.

So pick one thing and take action. Today. 

It could be something fitness-related like working with a coach. It could be something work-related like launching or pitching that great idea you’ve been sitting on. Or it could be ice cream-related like enjoying a scoop from that new place in town.

I don’t care what it is. I care that you stop over thinking and start taking action. Because that’s where the magic happens.

Action over info. The results are amazing.

You ready? Then take your shot. You can always aim later.