Between a doer, a spectator and a thinker, who do you consider yourself to be?

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   kallini2010posted 11 years ago

   Between a doer, a spectator and a thinker, who do you consider yourself to be?
   
   I came across a quote and it made me wonder how people tend to view themselves?
   
   “There are three types of people in this world:
   those who make things happen,
   those who watch things happen and
   those who wonder what happened.
   We all have a choice.  You can decide which type of person you want to be.  I have always chosen to be in the first group.”
   ~ Mary Kay Ash
   
   
   

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   Amaryllisposted 11 years ago

   I'd like to be a person who makes things happen, but I have sad tendency to overthink, and so by the time I've thought carefully and decided what I want to do, the right time to act has often passed.
   I tell my children that they should always think before they act, but don't be like me! So as I get older, I try to act more, and think faster.

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      kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am quite the same - I tend to think more than act.  But the idea is to emphasize our strengths, not our weaknesses.  The world needs thinkers just as much as it needs doers.  Improvements are thought of by thinkers and then implemented by doers.

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   Mr. Happyposted 11 years ago

   I think all three are necessary (and by no means am I trying to avoid the question). I like to observe/watch, think and then, act. I do tend to think a lot though - perhaps an attempt to balance out with those people out there who hardly ever think ...
   Cheers! : )

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      kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      We are on the same page - you can't belong to one category only.  It's the same as picking between being an eater, a sleeper or a walker. The point is most people don't stop to think.  Some people think too much, some never enough.

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   SidKempposted 11 years ago

   Me, I'm a doer. I admire thinkers and learn from them. Genuine, appreciative spectators gain my admiration as well - for example, when they truly enjoy and admire art and nature. I wish I could sit still long enough to enjoy them.
   
   But, at my core, I want the world to be a better place. I want to be healthy, and, due to my childhood, that's not easy, so I work at it. I want everyone to be happy, safe, and free. So I work at that, too. And with 7 billion brothers and sisters to care about, that keeps me pretty busy!
   
   If you want to get unstuck and be a doer, be sure to read my latest hubs about starting and renewing New Years resolutions.

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      kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This quote is quite misleading - it leads you into the trap of thinking that "doing is good, thinking is not so much" and we are taught to think for ourselves, we are taught to jump the bandwagon and conform blindly.

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      SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You're right: Doing without thinking for ourselves is dangerous. The quote, in context, points out that thinking without doing does not produce change. I teach prepare, do, follow through, which means: think (plan), act, make a better world.

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   Bretsukiposted 11 years ago

   Hello, I tend to fall between a thinker and a doer.
   
   I generally analyse a situation fairly quickly, then act to try to make things happen.
   
   I have rarely sat back and let an idea pass me by.
   
   The way I look at it, to think and do i and fail is better to fail to do.
   
   Many times you fail in what you do, but you can at least say to yourself that you tried, sometimes an idea pays off and you can pat yourself on the back for getting it all right.

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years ago

   I'm really more a thinker...or worrier, or reader than anything else.  I am trying to be more of a doer though, as thinking about doing something isn't worth much

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      kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      True.  Inclination to be a thinker or a doer is an inborn characteristic.  I firmly believe that thinkers should think and doers should do.  We are best in our best capacity, not in our weakest.

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   wqaindiaposted 11 years ago

   If your post your answers then you are a doer. If you are thinking that your answer is the best then you are a thinker. If you just read the question any move to have a glance over more questions ,  then probably you are a spectator. Doer is supreme,  Thinker  may become doer. Spectators are a crowd.

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      kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Usually the wisest people are not the Speedy Gonzaleses of the world, the wisest are those who have the patience to observe and to analyze.  There is an expression that All great things are seen from a distance (vs in the heat of a battle).

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   lburmasterposted 11 years ago

   A spectator. I watch what happens, ponder it, and think of ways to make it better. But I'm horrible at creating physical objects. Only theories and principles are safe coming out of my mouth.

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      CJ Sledgehammerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      One should never say more than they know and one should never speak unless they carry the truth or have something kind, honest, honorable or helpful to say. I think you have placed yourself on solid ground and can find no fault with your vantage poin

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      SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      CJ - you & I are very close on this one. I would change the "or" to "and." I think it best if we only speak when we carry the truth *and* can say it in a kind, honorable, and helpful way. Iburmaster - I hope you pass your recommendations on to do

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   Moeskyposted 11 years ago

   I'm a thinker who sometimes makes some things happen, because thinking alone doesn't change anything. If a thinker passes on an idea to a doer, then he has taken action to make a thing happen - this is also a form of doing.
   The quote you came across doesn't separate thinkers from doers - they are both in the first category. The spectators are the second category - those who don't think about doing or take action in "doing", but maybe ponder and appreciate, applaud and sometimes criticize. The third category doesn't refer to people who think, but rather to those who don't think, who don't even "notice" that anything gets done until it's hit them in the face. These people tend to take much for granted. The "wonder" is not curiosity in their case, but an expression of "...what the hell happened?...I didn't see that coming!"
   I know this quote. And I'm in the first category. Everyone who works consciously to improve their experience or situation in life is in the first category...everyone who dares to take their dreams and ambitions seriously is in the first category. All Hubbers are in the first category.

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    CJ Sledgehammerposted 11 years ago

    I cannot truthfully say that I am one who "makes things happen", nor do I aspire to be. What I seek is understanding and truth. I am far more comfortable watching, pondering, and analyzing. I am one who looks before leaping.

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    Dan Barfieldposted 11 years ago

    I used to be a thinker, then became a spectator who thought, now I am a thinking participant. I do... but I think before doing and contemplate what's been done after it is finished.
    
    It is important to plan - and equally important to reflect but both are useless if one doesn't 'do'.

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    Emanate Presenceposted 11 years ago

    I like your question, kallini2010, but do I have to limit myself to one of those three?
    
    Neither a 'doer, a spectator or a thinker' holds much interest for me.
    
    I place more value on the quality of attention given to my actions and less on the practical productivity of my day. Whereas before goal-setting and time management were important, now they are meaningless.
    
    This runs counter to social programming and for me has resulted in a radical lifestyle change, though I have attempted to find ways to bridge the old and the new.
    
    So I am a be-er (not beer), rather than a doer. In fact, pushing to get things done is on my avoidance list, as that old behavior separates me from the real happening of life. I am a person of action, up to the point when it becomes 'doing.' Then it is time to stop and reflect on the quality of the action rather than the quantity of production.
    
    So also does thinking separate me from feeling what is real. Oh, I lived many years in my head and uplifted my ego with thoughts of myself as intellectual. I realize now it is more beneficial to empty the mind of thoughts.
    
    A 'spectator' is someone on the sidelines, watching without involvement. That is not me either. I like to be a neutral observer, a non-judging witness, but not a sideline spectator. I am a participant with life.

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       SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you, EP! You said very well what I was struggling to say when I wrote about admiring art and nature. Let us all learn to be, and to be present, aware, and appreciative, whether we are thinking, doing, or looking at life.

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       Emanate Presenceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I like that comment from you as well, Sid.

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       kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I think it is precisely that - any quote is a reduction, simplification of thought and any definition aka restriction leads to distortion.  A doer = someone who built a city, someone who made a cup of coffee.  Both doers. But there is a difference.

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    SoManyPathsposted 11 years ago

    I have watched and made things happen. Some good, some bad.It is just a part of living. If I wonder what happened it is because I was too involved in other things like my family and work. Time does not always allow you to make things happen unless it is a passion of yours.

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       SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, only with passion can we master our use of time and make things happen. I admire thinking, but not excess thinking that arises from blocked passion. I admire watching, but not pulling back to watch arising from blocked passion.

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    cjpooja26posted 11 years ago

    I want to make things happen but I think for making things happen we always have to watch how things are happening and what is happening so that we could learn from these and then we can achieve the first that is make things happen.

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       SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       True and beautifully poetic in the way you say it. Thanks!

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    ReneeDC1979posted 11 years ago

    I have been all three at some point in time-but within the last 6 months-mostly a doer.

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       CJ Sledgehammerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       "Idle hands are the tool of the devil". Staying busy (within reason) keeps one out of trouble and puts them in places where they can do good. You go girl!!! :0)

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    Paul Maplesdenposted 11 years ago

    I think you have to combine all three:
    
    1. Wonder what you are going to do
    2. Think about doing it and plan
    3. Get it done
    
    Of course, you need a different mindset for each; wondering involves possibility, alternatives and taking as wide a view as possible. Thinking means narrowing your focus, problem solving and planning things out. Doing demands activity, testing and achievement.
    
    I do think that people find one aspect of this easier than others. I tend to be a 'do-er' and often have to hold myself back a bit while I wonder and think about problems, so I don't bite off more than I can chew or head off in the wrong direction!

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    carol7777posted 11 years ago

    I am  a doer after doing a lot of thinking.  I love activity

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    snerfuposted 11 years ago

    One may aim for the stars, wait for the tide and move the earth. How and when can you do it? Metaphorically speaking , you may grab a dog by its tail, but only when it stops following it! To do, you need to have the following, to see you need to be in somebody's book and to follow there has to be somebody doing something. I am in a different class but the question awoke the primal instincts that drove me to this point. "If you so follow me, do attain Salvation" for it is in your stars. Grab opportunities, but then what do you gain? It seems life is a mirage. To answer your question, I like to be a doer. But unfortunately, I am a watcher.

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       SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Snerfu, I find your explorations powerful, even though I don't fully understand them. But the last line puzzles me - I find being a doer is simply a choice. Is that not so for you?

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    anaghamposted 11 years ago

    I would say I'm a thinker.. I take a lot of time to know a situation and only then I take the next step to do something..

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    followthestarsposted 11 years ago

    I am definitely a doer. I like to solve problems and cannot sit around and wait for others to solve it if I know I can change something. When I do things myself I can only be disappointed with myself if things fail.

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    phillippeengelposted 11 years ago

    I am a doer. An important factor that is tightly connected to success, which no one can succeed without, is this: Success is intricately connected to positive action. Success stories abound of people who keep themselves on the move, by never stopping, by never relinquishing even if they should make error after error.
    
    If you were on a journey and discovered somehow that you were disorientated, stopping would not take you anywhere. You would have to choose another route and just keep moving. Being in motion would be the only way that would allow you to reach your destination. You could take shortcuts, a faster vehicle, or get hold of a map to pinpoint the shortest path.

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       kallini2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       There was a great film - about a few captives that escaped a high security prison in Russia,  as they set on their course of continuous movement - they realize that the train tracks go only around the same prison. They circle and circle and circle.

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       phillippeengelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       There may be sometimes abnormal and unexpected circumstances that delude us into thinking that we are making progress. But in this comment I am not broaching this issue; rather, I am generalizing just like what others do.

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    Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

    I can't say that I agree with the premise that there are three distinct types of people, and people are in one category or another.  I think it depends on what it is that is happening/has happened, and who it is happening/has happened to.  I think most people (or at least a lot of them) would choose to/aim to be a doer who makes things happen.  I don't think thinking only involves wondering why something happened, but also involved thinking in order to prevent some thing from ever happening; but also analyzing in order to prevent something from happening again (or at least understanding why it happened).  I'd assume most people wouldn't be satisfied to imagine themselves as spectators, but sometimes life presents us with times when we discover that we are, no matter how much we may dislike recognizing this, nothing more than spectators.  As for doers, sometimes they're successful.  Sometimes they can make the wrong things happen (not very admirable or desirable).  Some people first watch, then think, then aim to do.   Again, it's just not that clear-cut.
    
    It seems to me to be the kind of quote that may work well in, say, the workplace or else in a team environment; but maybe can't apply at all times in "general life" or to "general personality type within the context of general life".   
    
    But, in the workplace setting; then I'd be confident to say that I generally make things happen rather than either just sit back and watch, or else ponder what has already happened.

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    Globetrekkermelposted 11 years ago

    I think I am all of the above,lol! although in different percentages. I would rate myself as follows:
    A doer = 40%- I seem to follow through agendas that I am passionate about.
    A spectator= 20%- I do stand in the sidelines and just watch and observe especially on subjects that I am completely clueless. I do take notes though and remind myself,what can I learn from this.
    A thinker= 40% . Years of practicing prayer and meditation are integral part of my life and immersing myself  about spirituality makes me curious about life and beyond life.I guess that qualifies me as  a thinker.

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