On Actions

What is "On Actions" about?

Boaz Gilad argues that most daily actions people call 'choices' are actually automatic reactions to uncomfortable feelings—boredom triggers scrolling, stress triggers eating, fear triggers avoidance—forming Pavlovian loops learned through repetition rather than fixed personality traits. He warns against treating these patterns as permanent identity ('I am just a procrastinator') when they are really rehearsed habits that can be retrained. The piece distinguishes ordinary performers, who wait to feel ready, confident, or motivated before acting, from Top Performers, who reverse the order: commitment drives action first, and feelings like confidence or clarity often arrive afterward, not before. Gilad stresses that emotions deserve respect but not control over the steering wheel of behavior. He closes with a practical exercise: identify one avoided action, take it immediately before the old loop can argue, then notice how the body's felt sense shifts afterward, reinforcing that the body learns new patterns through repeated, visible evidence rather than internal declarations or analysis.

In brief

What are the key takeaways?

1. 01Many 'choices' are trained emotional reactions (Pavlovian loops), not conscious decisions.
2. 02Top Performers act from commitment first; feelings like confidence often follow the action rather than precede it.
3. 03Change starts with one small, immediate action that interrupts the old loop and gives the body new evidence.