Sep 15, 2025
Every successful person says "talk is cheap," but I’ve never seen any of them explain just how cheap it is. So here, I want to share my my thoughts on this.
To avoid confusion, let’s use the word “idea” instead of “talk,”. Since ideas are always tied to actions, so we will discuss the two together. For simplicity, let’s break down the "idea-action spectrum" into three key scenarios:
1.A great idea with no action
2.A clumsy idea with clumsy action
3.A great idea with great action
You will find that the gap between Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 is much wider than the gap between Scenario 2 and Scenario 3.
If you have a great idea but take no action, you'll never get anywhere—you'll stay stuck right where you started. You are just wasting your precious time.
But if you have a clumsy idea and act on it clumsily, you're already trying. The results might not be good at first, but those attempts will eventually take you somewhere. As you experiment, you'll realize that the real world is often nothing like what you imagined—and the realization will push you to keep going. With enough effort and tweaks, you will eventually get what you want—or even something better.
Scenario 3—a great idea with great action—sounds ideal, like it guarantees instant success. But here's the truth: no one can truly have a "great idea" before trying it out, the real world rarely matches the theories in your head. Every idea you have (even scientific theories) is just a simplified version of a tiny part of reality. Without action, even the best idea is neither true nor useful.
For most of us, then, the best starting point isn’t the two extremes—“great ideas + great action” or “great ideas + no action.” It’s somewhere in the middle: between “a clumsy idea + clumsy action” and “a good (not great) idea + good action.”
In fact, the gap between those two starting points isn't that big— as long as you keep tweaking and refining your actions. Taking action itself is the most important step, especially if you're just starting out.
We can even put numbers to this to make it concrete:
1.Great idea + no action = 0
2.Clumsy idea + clumsy action = 60
3.Good idea + good action = 80
4.Great idea + great action = 100
And the "tweaking process" is worth a million—far more than the initial gap. Over time, the outcomes shift to:
1.Clumsy idea + clumsy action + persistent tweaking → 1,000,060
2.Good idea + good action + persistent tweaking → 1,000,080
But that great idea with no action? It still stays at 0.
In short, here's what I want to say: NEVER WAIT FOR PERFECT PREPARATION TO START—DO IT NOW IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING DONE.