Passive or Active Engagement

Published on
November 14, 2013
Author
Chris Taylor
"Ideas are only valuable when applied."
Subscribe to digest
Read about our privacy policy.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

I think we can safely agree that there is more content out there than we can possibly consume in our waking lives. Even three years ago, we were producing more content every two days than we did in our entire written history up to 2003, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

And much of it is free.

So we can consume, passively, on an unprecedented scale. We can collect information, search for answers in a nano-second and generally feel we have access to all the world’s answers at all times.

But what are you doing with that information?

One of our driving purposes at Actionable is to help people move from passive consumers of content, to active engagement.

From filing information away to putting it to use in our (very) busy lives.

It’s rewarding to hear stories of people applying what they learn into their own lives. It’s impressive to see how one little piece of insight – leveraged and put to work – can make a radical shift in someone’s life.

Which is why, perhaps, I have such an elevated level of respect for the members of our Actionable Book Club (ABC). These intelligent, inquisitive individuals made the active commitment to not only read 12 books in 2013, but to take one idea from each book and put it into practice. To take the insights gleaned from their reading out of the theoretical world and put them into play in reality.

ABC ’13 Member, Vanessa Chase had this to say about her experience:

Writing for Actionable Books has been a truly amazing experience. Closing the loop through writing these summaries has really helped me implement a lot of what I’ve learned. In many ways, I think it’s given a rise to this year being a big experiment in lifestyle design.”

Applications for the 2014 Actionable Book Club are now open.

You have until Friday to apply, at which point we’ll select 36 members for next year’s adventure. We look forward to helping you put ideas into action. To helping you, in our own small way, create a truly groundbreaking year.

ABC aside, I ask, will 2014 be yet another year of consuming? Or are you ready to take action on all you’ve learned? On all your insights gathered and facts stored away? Are you ready to put your ideas into Action?

We know that the most active contributors to ActionableBooks.com are the ones getting the most from the site. I have a suspicion that’s true in most cases, well beyond our little corner of the web.