Sam Davidson's Big Idea

Check out this post from Sam Davidson's Remarkablog. As I first started to read, I was expecting some critique of women's dating habits or something, but the post took an interesting, compelling direction:

"While this my be a shocker to approximately 0% of the population familiar with The Bachelor, since I don't follow the show closely, it just hit me. What the women really want (or, the men, in the case of The Bachelorette) is to win. The falling in love and finding a soulmate part doesn't even matter. They like the idea of falling in love. What they really want is to win.

So, they disguise their want in the camouflage of an idea. By doing so, they think they can hold out hope that what they are really going after is in fact the thing they want. They hope that by winning they'll also fall in love and find their happy ever after...

...In a similar fashion,

• We like the idea of writing a book, but what we really want to do is create something. So we talk about how we hope to write a book, but end up never creating anything.
• We like the idea of starting a business, but what we really want is to put our own dreams into practice. So, we let our dreams hatch and die because we think that we've got to get a small business loan before any of that can happen.
• We like the idea of helping poor kids in Africa, but what we really want is to do something that matters. So, we wait and wait until we get the chance to fly across an ocean, letting our chances at greatness dissipate in the meantime.
• We like the idea of fame and fortune, but what we really want is someone else to notice us. So, we think no one is watching as we live our lives on what we consider a small and insignificant stage.

What would happen if we chased after our deepest longings and worried about that big overarching idea later?"

I think Sam is on to something here that really resonates with me. I find it very easy to get caught up in the ideas, and very tricky to act on what's beneath. What about you?

(hattip: Gavin Richardson)