"We must not be word-sick.”-Njal’s Saga

The above is uttered in regard to those who offer much talk, but little on the “Do” side of the equation. An action is being debated but thus far the only action has been talk, talk, and more talk.

Which leads our Hero to also utter the following: “I cannot bear to listen to such speeches of worthless men.”

If we are candid with ourselves, many of us too easily get stuck in word-sickness and make the dire mistake of allowing our words, out texts, our posts to stand-in for an action.

This can never be the case.

To declare “I will run!” no matter how empathically you shout that verb, the statement is never the run itself.

A declaration of love with all the vivid colors a manufactured Facebook template can offer is in no sense or shape a tangible expression of love.

We often become so mired in our words of “action”, our “plans” for action, our “shared posts” of action we exhaust our time and will and this word-sickness becomes lazy substitutes for any action at all.

There is a next step in this “word-sickness” and that is one of “almost an act.”

 “A Roman swordsman belabored a post and asked: “What do you think of my swordsmanship?’ ‘Fine, if you have a wooden adversary.’ Lucian, Demonax

In response to an aggressive board-breaking demonstration.

“Boards don’t hit back.”-Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon

Both examples, though similar in subject, are perfect to illustrate that we often take one mere step beyond the initial symptoms of word-sickness and begin manifesting signs of preparation-sickness.

The Spinning Class that never manifests into an actual bike ride in the elements.

The survival gear hanging off of a “rough and ready” belt that has never seen three-days-hungry-in-the-woods use.

The Hallmark card or post that offers another’s words to express “your” sentiment.

“All words, no action, no credibility. You know when you’re talking shit and you also know when you’re keeping it real. Catch yourself when it’s the former. Stop. Strive for the latter. Stop and listen to yourself.

Simple rule: “do it” instead of talking about it. You’ll see more results and you skip a whole step (the talking part) in the process.”-Sonny Barger, Founding Member of The Oakland Chapter of The Hells Angels

Ponder the following:

There are more members of Facebook and Meetup groups designated for bowling than there are actual people bowling each and every week.

There are more gym-memberships than there are people in the gym.

There are always more people in any given audience than there are people who do [at any level] the activity that the audience members will pay and sit to observe.

Will and energy are finite resources.

We often spend them too easily and leave nothing in the tank to get this life accelerating.

Njal knew that too much talking, too much “preparation” would make one so “word sick” that they would have to call in and miss an actual day of work.

“To more do, less talk.”

"Til að gera meira, minna talað."