There are usually two psychological effects that drive the majority of human development in small but innumerable and thus significant stages – action and catalysts. The human mind and body in modern society forms and spends the majority of it’s time fulfilling basic needs, such as sleep, hunger, thirst, comfort, physiological needs, protection from the elements in shelter and so fourth. Once these needs have been fulfilled, it moves on to take care of higher needs such as money, fame, power and praise.
Many people live their lives around a routine. Much of their basic needs take up the majority of their time. Sleeping takes an average of 1/3 of a person’s day. 1/3 is filled up with work or study, and 1/3 is usually used for recreation, chores and maintenance of oneself and those around us. This routine is usually broken with a catalyst, which is a result of some action.
Most catalysts come in the form of learning something new that is life changing, or being put in a position in which the routine becomes disrupted. Most people usually spend most of their lives in their immediate environment. For a person to go somewhere far from where they usually are, requires action, either on behalf of the person or on behalf of somebody else. This action causes a catalyst, which is the breaking of the routine.
Another conceptual term for a catalyst in the sense that we are referring to would be an epiphany, or a realization. Once a realization has been made, it is often a life changing experience.
The most successful among the human race are often people of action. Many are not even the brightest, but they all share one common denominator – that is to be proactive. Acting requires one to be constantly working on themselves, to practice their lines, their script, to repeat their projection of a certain emotion such as happiness, sadness, anger, envy, disgust, shock, and many others. The world acting itself derives from “action”.
Human development itself usually stalls when there is no catalyst to drive change. When a society does not want to change, it stagnates, or it fluctuates in terms of it’s development. It might improve in some areas, stall in others, and yet decline in others. In order for human development to continually go forward, catalysts must be constant, but for catalysts to be constant, action needs to be commonplace.
Action is not always a universal trait of a society. Many Western societies are built on being proactive, as they are Capitalist and running a business requires for people to be proactive. They say a business cannot move forward until a sale is made. With the sale you pay workers, buy inventory, pay rent and so fourth. This requires action. But many Western societies are also low energy outside of the workplace. People work and grind, come home and are tired. As a result, the action and catalysts only result for the business they work for instead of for themselves. This forces them to be stuck in the grind for most of their lives.
Some people prefer it this way. As long as they have a steady paycheck, peace of mind, and life a humble life, they are happy. While they could always have more, they feel as if this is enough. Much of human progress comes through a catalyst, a realization. Once something new is learned, new opportunities open up in our reality that were not there before.
A person can be proactive and still maintain their energy levels. One does not need to go out of their way to overexert themselves in order to be proactive. Instead of going to the same restaurant or park or grocery store all the time, why not change it up? In the information age it requires only a simple search online, and the entire world is at their feet, or, well, their immediate surroundings.
Some things are less affordable than others, true, like international travel. But despite this, a person can still take advantage of their immediate surroundings to a maximum extent. They can learn about everything in their neighborhood, and if they live in a secluded place, they can learn about the trees, the grass, the birds, the sand, the ice and the penguins, no matter where they are.
Maintaining your energy levels then becomes more of a mindset than a major change to your routine. From them on constantly changing your routine becomes the routine in itself.
One great secret to being a good actor and a good improvisation specialist, and somebody who has infinite street smarts, is to be proactive and to constantly be on the lookout for new life and game changing things to notice. They are all around us, you just need to attune yourself to their existence. Every person that walks down the street has a story to tell about them. Their being might get lost in the endless sea of people, especially in large cities, and the human mind learns to tune them out. But every person has their story, their experiences, their childhood and adulthood, their achievements and struggles, their perspectives on the world that they’ve developed through experience and as a result of their environment, and how it all integrates together is simply beautiful and inspirational.
Some people are more open to a catalyst than others. They constantly see huge opportunities all around them and know how to go for them. A catalyst invokes innovation. They say necessity is the mother of all invention. We need to see necessity as demand, and invention as supply.