ATTENTION Social Entrepreneurs: Stop Learning. Start Doing!

This is a wake up call! Social entrepreneurs get up, get out and do something meaningful.

Stop learning. Get your head out of the books. It’s time to actually do something with what you’ve learnt.

Social Entrepreneurs Who Feel They Are Not Good Enough

Often times, you may feel like you need to learn more. You think that you need to get more qualifications or you need more experience. You may think that you are not good enough.

While there are occasions when it would be useful to learn about a particular situation and to understand the opportunities for you to contribute, I think there comes a point in which you may be overdoing your research. I admit that I have sometimes been caught up in the books myself. I love learning and I love reading. I have often felt that I must do more study or more analysis of the problems at hand.

Social Entrepreneurs: Do Something With Your Life

Nevertheless, one of the greatest lessons that I have learnt in my experience of academics as well as actual experience in the Philippines, Australia and Bangladesh is that you have to go beyond your fears. You are often greater than you think you are. Aspiring social entrepreneurs have an important mission in the world. While getting your head in the books, writing reports and doing assessments of the problem can be helpful to identify and understand the problems that surround you, it is absolutely not enough in my point of view. You must get up off your chair and go out and actually find solutions and attempt to achieve them. That’s what I think distinguishes social entrepreneurs from merely social academics or social researchers. Social entrepreneurs use what they’ve learned and what they’ve experienced to actually go out to make a difference with strategic actions and measurable results.

The 80/20 Rule For Problems and Solutions

First, spend 20% of your time on understanding and analysing the problem. Then you must spend 80% of your time and energy on finding and actually implementing a workable solution.

I challenge you to take action. Believe that you have something worthwhile to contribute today – and you certainly do have something unique to offer. You are good enough to contribute from wherever you are and from whatever circumstance you are in.

Be a Leader

The world needs you to take that first step. Do it now.

  • Pingback: Matthew Alberto

  • http://www.TheResponsibleBusiness.com Carol Sanford

    Love the story for getting people unstuck. But I would say, learn while doing and develop as a person while doing.

    In my new book, I speak to some of the same concerns with an addition. It is insane that many decades ago we separated learning and doing and put learning into books. I think real learning, even when young, happens more effectively in a “value-adding process”. That is when we are bringing real value into the world. And when we start the process of creating and generating deep and meaningful value, we can get better at that over time if we learn to reflect and build critical thinking skills “IN” the doing. My books tells many profound stories of businesses, very small and very large, who have changed the world by ‘actualizing”- making stuff happen and “potentializing”- making the org and people more able for doing even better the next round, AT THE SAME TIME. http://www.TheResponsibleBusiness.com and http://www.carolsanford.com/blog Thanks for the excellent piece

    • Matthew Alberto

      Hi Carol,
      Thanks for another useful response!
      In all cases, taking action is a high priority for social entrepreneurs and responsible businesses.
      Cheers
      Matthew

  • Pingback: Ashley Renee Causey