The Knowledge-Action Gap: When It Comes to Changing Your Life, You Are on Your Own

No piece of advice from a mentor, a colleague, a book, a video or a friend can propel you to the final stage of self-improvement.

However essential or life-changing advice maybe, you and only you have to take the final step to act on that vital knowledge.

The right advice at the right time can change your life. But you have to act on it to implement change in your life.

“You cannot change what you are, only what you do,” Philip Pullman said.

Change doesn’t come naturally to us; it’s uncomfortable. So people hesitate to apply what they know.

More often than not, change is not a knowledge problem; it’s an action dilemma.

You already know what you need to build a better life. You’ve read about it dozens of times in that book or listened to it several times.

The real problem is getting from knowledge to action. That step is new, scary, challenging, or too hard for people who can’t close the gap.

Many people are ready for a change, but they don’t know which direction to take or what to do with what they already know.

Others get stuck because they don’t know how high to jump, where to stand to leap, or what to do to land at the right place on the other side.

If you can do something with the advice you already have, you will change your life.

The simplest way to get started is to do anything — no matter how small. Don’t think too hard about the first few steps.

Action is a massive motivator.

You don’t have to change your entire life to make real progress in life.
If you want to live a life full of meaning and action, find a good understanding of what you want out of it and commit to small steps daily.

Change happens one tiny action at a time, but you are the only one who can push yourself to the next stage of your life.

If you want to make significant changes in your life — like overhauling your schedule and juggling a new full-time job — you have to take small but incremental steps.

Think of it as “the art of small change.”

As Gretchen Rubin put it in her book The Happiness Project, the key to making a significant lifestyle change is to “minimize the emotional impact of that change on you.” Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Don’t commit to massive progress in the shortest time possible; it’s a recipe for failure. There’s no shortcut to closing the gap between knowing and doing. But, you can start small and change your life one small action at a time.

When you make a change, you’re linking your present with your future

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” — Steve Maraboli

You can start the process of personal change by making a list of things you want to change and the actions you need to take to close the gap.

So now you know what you need to do, let’s get to doing it.

For every action, break it down. Instead of going at it all at once, take it one small action at a time.

For example, many people know reading daily is a good habit, but they can’t commit to it. What you can do to start reading is make it insanely easy to start.

Instead of aiming to read dozens of pages every day, start with just a page or even half a page — anything to get you to pick up a book every day.

The same idea applies to every good habit you want to build.

Focus more on the daily action instead of your big goals. Obsessing over what you want or the end goal is counterproductive.

Build a process, routine or ritual that can help you stack or accumulate progress every day. Small wins is the goal.

The goal always takes care of itself when you take practical but high-impact action every day.

Personal change is entirely up to you but don’t overthink it.

Aaron Ross is right, “Just take any step, whether small or large. And then another and repeat day after day. It may take months, maybe years, but the path to success will become clear.”

By all means, find all the good actions you need to take to close the knowing-doing gap. But you can’t get anywhere without taking responsibility for your personal change.

Remember what Oprah Winfrey once said, “You are responsible for your life, and doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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