“Not being able to take action” isn't because you have a weak will—it might just be your instincts stopping you from doing something that doesn't need to be done.

Pessimistically viewing one's inability to move as laziness or weakness.

Things I’ve always wanted to do. Ideas I got excited about with friends. Lifestyles I saw on social media and longed for.Everyone has a list of “things I’ve always wanted to do” that they haven’t tackled yet. At the same time, we also see people struggling with the same challenges or failing at them. “I’m glad I didn’t do that.” We tell ourselves this, justifying our inaction, and accumulate another kind of “success” that justifies staying put.

I have a family. I have things to protect. I’m afraid of failing. I could come up with countless reasons. That’s why so many people blame themselves for being weak-willed. But let’s try changing our perspective for a moment. Was my inability to act really just a sign of weakness?

There are essentially two explanations for “I can’t move.”

To put it bluntly, the main reason I couldn't take action was simply because it was something I didn't need to do in the first place. If it were something that truly needed to be done at a fundamental level, a person couldn't help but move. The very fact that I wasn't taking action is proof that it wasn't an essential issue.

Things that you thought sounded interesting or aspirational simply because you were influenced by your surroundings tend to fade away without ever being put into action. Rather than a failure, this can also be seen as having sensed danger and stopped. Somewhere inside, something was protecting you from getting swept away.

However, this does not directly lead to the conclusion that "therefore we don't need to do anything." This is where the next perspective comes into play—how you evaluate yourself as a person.

Self-evaluation determines whether or not I should take action.

If you think of yourself as "not such a big deal," then the decisions made by someone who is not a big deal are not a big deal either. In other words, whichever option you choose between A and B, it doesn't really matter. Since you think that way yourself, there is fundamentally no need to worry in the first place. You can just go ahead and try it out lightly without thinking too deeply. Whichever way it turns out, the blow will be much smaller than you think.

On the other hand, if people who genuinely believe, “I’m meant for greater things” or “I’ll accomplish something on the world stage someday” aren’t taking action, that’s a contradiction. People like that are bound to achieve something eventually—it’s just not right now. If that’s the case, they should try out a wide range of things now so they can give it their all when the time finally comes.You can make the most of your current period of stagnation by using it as a run-up to the moment that will eventually come.

Human beings are fundamentally designed not to take action.

And there is one more premise that is often overlooked. As living beings, humans are, in some ways, designed to be unable to act. This is because venturing far beyond their usual range of action posed a risk to the species. Mechanisms for controlling unknown behaviors are hardwired into the brain at the instinctual level. The inability to act is not a personal flaw, but rather a fundamental characteristic inherent to the human species.

On top of that, as people grow up, their values are gradually overwritten by education, social norms, the media, and ideologies—to the point where they can no longer even see what they should naturally be doing.The judgments we make today are the result of a blend of our innate impulses and the common sense that has been instilled in us over time. Recognizing this premise is the starting point for accurately assessing why we find ourselves unable to act.

Success and failure can be reversed in countless ways depending on one’s perspective.

It’s not uncommon to hear stories of people jumping into the long-term care industry after hearing it was booming, only to find that others had flocked there for the same reason, turning it into a “red ocean.” However, there are also cases where people use that experience to gain an in-depth understanding of the industry from the inside and go on to achieve success in a different way based on that insight.Initial strategies are formulated based solely on the information available before entering that world. Only after entering does the information expand, and the strategy is gradually revised. Success is not the result of the initial plan being correct, but simply the result of continuously updating that plan.

Whether you call the collapse of a company a “failure” depends on how you frame the timeline. If that experience leads you to be recognized as a consultant in that industry, then that failure becomes the foundation for success.People are creatures who, a few years later, tend to reevaluate even the most difficult times as fond memories. If that’s the case, there’s no point in definitively labeling something a “failure” at this very moment. Viewed over the long term, the only truly irreversible choice is the one where you did nothing at all.

If You Still Want to Take Action—Five Practical Ways to Increase the Level of Abstraction

If you want to determine the right time to act for yourself, you need to improve your ability to view things from a high perspective in your daily life. Here are five specific examples of practice.

First, meditation. Making time to properly face oneself. Second, writing down the miscellaneous information accumulated in one's head in a notebook to free up brain capacity. Third, meeting people from completely different professions and generations whom one wouldn't encounter in their usual sphere of life. Fourth, picking up books in genres one doesn't usually read. And fifth, instead of consuming other people's information on social media, going to actually meet people who are living those ways of life.

Social media temporarily cools down a tired brain, but you end up trapped in a loop of dopamine, watching time melt away without ever increasing the resolution of your thoughts. Instead, try expanding the scope of what you want to engage with—from your city to your country, and from your country to the world. The larger the subject, the higher your perspective for seeing the essence of things naturally has to become.

"Doing nothing" holds the same measure of dignity.

Finally, I’d like to make a point that goes against the grain. It’s okay to spend a few months mulling things over and, in the end, take no action at all. Achieving something isn’t the only thing that matters; the choice to think things through thoroughly and then do nothing carries just as much weight.

And you don't even have to be the one chasing big dreams yourself. Finding someone else's challenge and supporting them is also a valid form of action. Moving, not moving, and supporting someone are all equally precious. That is precisely why you can first relax your shoulders and easily take a step forward.

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