In episode 4 of Jay Morrison’s Jay Walk YouTube series he talks about one of the most important concepts that can help anyone in any area of life. It is simply this:
Stop being stupid!
The easiest way to get everything that you want out of life is to NOT be stupid. I know what you’re thinking….
DUH!
Before you roll your eyes and click away from this post then we should really define what “stupid” is. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stupid as slow of mind or given to unintelligent decisions or acts.
We’ll focus on that second part regarding unintelligent decisions or acts.
If you set a goal for yourself then it will take action to achieve it. Anything that you do that takes you closer to your goal is smart. Being intelligent is about what you do, not what you think.
If you know the smart thing to do and you don’t do it, what does that make you? STUPID!” -Jay Morrison
That’s really what it’s all about. Doing the things that we know are smart. Doing what we say matters to us. If we know the smart thing to do and we don’t do it then that makes us stupid.
Being intelligent is about what you do, not what you think. Click To TweetWhy we do stupid things
Too many of us are acting like we don’t know how to fix our problems or what we should be doing. We pretend that we’re ignorant and just keep doing things that aren’t good for us. Why?
One reason is that we don’t want to put in the work required.
Boys do what they want to do, men do what they have to do. -Jay Morrison
In the video Jay talks about running a staffing company years ago and having to pawn his jewelry in order to make payroll because it was the right thing to do. People don’t want to make sacrifices to get to where they say they want to go.
Too many of us are being immature by doing what’s fun and easy instead of doing what’s hard and necessary.
Boys do what they want to do, men do what they have to do. -@MrJayMorrison Click To TweetThe second reason we do stupid things is we prefer to pretend like we don’t actually know what the smart thing to do is. This helps us to rationalize why we don’t have or do the things we should.
We all know that the four word formula for losing weight is eat less, exercise more. It’s as simple as that but people will act like they can’t do it because they don’t know the right exercises to do in the gym or they can’t afford it.
We all know that we should have life insurance but a lot of us don’t. People act like they can’t afford it but the cost of one pair of expensive sneakers could cover a full year of life insurance premiums.
If you know the smart thing to do and you don't do it, what does that make you? STUPID!" -@MrJayMorrison Click To TweetAnother reason we do stupid things is we don’t want to face the fact that we’re being stupid.
Nobody wants to admit that they’re consistently doing something they shouldn’t be doing. It would just make us feel guilty to think about how we could easily be doing something smarter.
We don’t want to think about how we could be saving for our children’s education or our own retirement. We don’t want to think about how we’re killing ourselves with soda and fast food.
We don’t want to admit that we’re doing the exact opposite of what we KNOW we should be doing.
Audit your life and your decisions
Jay suggests that we all take a good look at our decisions and the actions we take. Look at each one and ask yourself if they match your goals in life.
If your actions don’t help you get what you say you want or get you to where you say you want to be then you’re being stupid. It’s time to put an end to that.
Do the things that you know you should be doing to achieve the things you say you want.
Stop being stupid.
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