Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
Are you a victim of “action faking?” We explored this more in depth on Sunday, which you can find here. Action faking is when you feel the illusion of making progress because you read a book, heard a podcast, saw a social media post, or watch a TED talk on progress without actually doing the work of progress. This is increasingly more and more prevalent because of the ease of access to information. When we are informed and inspired to make progress of some kind, be it self-help, fitness goals, or financial success, we get a dopamine hit in our brains. Yet when we start the actual work of progress, we do not feel that dopamine hit. So it’s actually easy to be deceived into feeling like we’re making progress without ever doing the work of progress.
So just because you saw that post on mental health does not mean you’re working on your mental health. Just because you watched that YouTube on fitness does not mean you’re working on getting fit. Just because you heard a message on loving your neighbor does not mean you’re loving your neighbor. The real work happens after the inspiration.
