Actions, NOT Words, Define What You Believe

Photo by Cleft Clips

Have you ever known someone who said one thing and did another?

Maybe a friend who claimed to believe something, but their actions didn't line up with their beliefs?

Or maybe even a friend who claimed to hate Justin Bieber's music, but then you caught him listening to it in his car?

Closet Beliebers. They need to just own it already.

If you're like me, you probably do a lot of wondering, This just doesn't add up. Why does all this happen?

I came across an interesting story recently that sheds some light on the topic.

A marketing genius was talking to a class at USC a few years ago. And to prove a point, he asked his class:

"Raise your hand if you like going to plays more than going to the movies."

A bunch of hands went up.

"That's a load of crap and you know it," he said, "and I'm about to prove it!"

"Raise your hand if you've gone to a play in the past two weeks."

Nothing.

"Now raise your hand if you've seen a movie in the past two weeks."

Hands all over the place.

Seems to me like some kids believed that they were a little more hipster than they actually were.

His point: Trust peoples' actions, not their mouths.

Marketing gurus know not to take people just at their word. Because if you invest money into what someone says instead of what someone does, you might end up outta luck. Why? Because what people DO and what people SAY don't always match up. Trust what people buy, not what they say.

Marketers know people's decisions are driven more by emotions and less by logic. People like to see themselves in a more favorable light most of the time. Me included. We might say something in an emotionless situation, but DO something completely different when our "wants" get tangled up in it.

For instance, have you ever said to yourself, "I am content with the clothes I already have," and then gone out and bought another expensive pair of pants?

You didn't buy them because you needed them... you bought them because you wanted them. And that shows you that maybe you aren't as content as you thought you were.

Actions reveal deep wants, which do a much better job of showing us what we believe than our words do.

Crazy, right? Our actions show us what we believe.

We may say we believe something if it's what we feel like we "should" believe. We may even think we believe it ourselves. But if it doesn't show up in our actions, we must not believe it.

And thus, we end up with these little "Trojan Horse" beliefs about ourselves.

Think about it.

How many times have you heard your friends say, "I believe _______", but their actions don't match up?

How many times have you and I done the same thing?

I know for a fact I'm guilty. I say things like, "I know God will take care of me," and then I live my life like there's no way that's true. I start taking matters into my own hands, living out of fear, etc.

My point is this:

You can find out what you TRULY believe by watching yourself. How do you act? What are you doing? Does it line up with what you're saying? When it comes to belief, the actions will ALWAYS trump the words. That's why they have that saying about it:

"Actions speak louder than words."

Right?

Because actions reveal beliefs.

So if you wanna know what someone TRULY believes... don't listen to them. WATCH them.