On Action

This one's going to be short and sweet. You're welcome.

What came first: the evidence or the action?
The more I study kinesiology, exercise science, human physiology, and evidence-based medicine, the more I realize:
    1) There is so much about the human body that we do not completely understand
    2) There is so much that I have yet to learn
    3) The amount of uncertainty, inconclusive evidence, and conflicting studies in these fields can be downright paralyzing

I have also come to realize that you can spend a lifetime wading through all of the research and immersing yourself in all of the "book learning" in an effort to find the solution to a problem, the way to achieve an end, or the cause of something (assuming there is one true solution, one quintessential way to achieve an end, or a definitive cause for a given effect, which I believe is false); but, all of the knowledge in the world is useless if it is not made actionable. Preparation with no consequent action or implementation is just a self-satisfying indulgence—an exercise in intellectual wealth accrual for the sake of intellectual wealth accrual. And, given how inconsistent and changeable evidence can be, and how much we do not yet know about the human body, this preparation can go on forever. If we limit ourselves to not acting until we have a "complete" requisite understanding of X, Y, and Z, we doom ourselves to be fruitless—to be busy but not productive. 

Let me be clear: I am not advocating ignorance, nor am I advocating settling for knowing "just enough" and not continually seeking growth. I believe that we all owe it to ourselves to be informed and always in the pursuit of understanding, and that anyone (coach, trainer, physical or manual therapist of any kind, etc.) who is in a position to practice on or prescribe action to another human being has a duty to be continually well-informed and should be held to a high standard. There is no room for incompetence. However, we all also owe it to ourselves to recognize that we cannot know all—that at a certain point we must draw on what we do understand, on experience, and on reason, and we must act. 

There is always risk in action, but there is no value or reward in idleness. We must find the delicate balance between risk mitigation and actionable practice. 

"Never mistake motion for action."

- Ernest Hemingway 

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