Main course action: 6 tastes of delicious deeds

Note: This is the fifth post in the “How To Be Interesting” series. Read the previous installment here.

Here’s where all the craziness of beliefs and being interested starts to pay off in action you can actually taste.

Once you have your beliefs in place (the primary one being that you focus on being interested), you’re ready to delve into the tangible aspects of action, the main course if you will.

I could give you specific examples of interesting action, but that’s been done. If you’re interested in that, a quick google search will get you some excellent articles on being interesting, two of which you can check out below (they’re older articles but still informative).

~ “How To Be Interesting” – Brian Clark (This one’s intended for a blogger audience, but the ideas apply to everyone. Stay away from the eighth one though.)

~ “How To Be Interesting” – Russell Davies (I came up with the idea of being interested independent of the multitude of other articles that say the same thing, including this one. This pattern is not just one of my own harebrained notions. In fact, interestedness is God’s prescription:

“Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:4

It’s a variation of the golden rule for crying out loud.)

The actions on these lists, however, draw from an underlying pattern of what I’ll call common tastes of action. Below are the seven tastes that I think are the most common:

Inclusive

For any action to be interested, it should include others. This can be in a result, as in when you bake a cake for someone. But more effectively, interested action should put other people at the center of the action while it’s occurring. Why not bake the cake with your friend?

Inclusiveness draws the interest into a “hands on” action instead of passive reception.

Diverse

To keep people’s attention, don’t keep your attention on one action. Mix it up. One of the primary reasons we aren’t interesting is that we continue to do the same things over and over. It’s self-serving. We like doing something, but we don’t consider that others probably don’t like the same again and again.

Even when others initially enjoy one particular action, be the first to switch it up BEFORE others get sick of it. Spread your action around. It’s not efficient, but it’s interested.

Habitual

Now I just said to move on, but this relates as well. You can become an expert on habitual actions because you’ve done them so many times. Others are interested in action that you do repeatedly, action that is integrated into your life and not simply a one-time stunt.

The caution here is to stay away from singularity. Make sure you have many habitual actions and that each is stretch across the widest area of interest possible. Like a blanket, the more the action covers, the more room you have to picnic.

Chaotic

This isn’t to say that your action should be pointless. Rather, it should be unpredictable. Actions that are chaotic force others out of their comfort zones to a certain extent by provoking tension. When that tension is released, the result is a more fulfilling action. The chaos builds emotion, and then lets it break free.

Just be sure to resolve the tension. Unresolved tension is anxiety. Again, that means mixing it up. Do something random like put a ghetto swimming pool in your living room, and follow it with a stroll through the park.

Creative

All interested action is creative in the sense that it’s imaginatively inspired, but what I’m talking about is the act of creating. Build a birdhouse, or write a novel just for kicks. Create in a way that inspires others to create.

Be creative in what you create. Make stuff no one else makes.

Courageous

Leaving your comfort zone takes courage. Being interested makes you vulnerable. People might not always accept you. Is that any reason to quit?

For any action, courage must motivate you.

Enjoyable

Finally, the action should be enjoyable. Yeah, you’re going to get some tension, some of your chaotic endeavors will flop, and you may even lose the interest of some. But if the action is enjoyable, you’ll not only have the perseverance to continue (though perhaps not in the same way if your actions aren’t going so well), you’ll also radiate that energy to others.

That pleasurable energy, combined with the force of the other tastes, will entice people. Their curiosity will rise, and suddenly your actions will be interesting, all because the action was interested.

So those are the tastes…

At this point, I could go into some applications of these traits. You could imagine me talking about polyphasic sleeping, learning to mountain unicycle, or going on a mission’s trip (no link for this. Ask your church). But I won’t. I’ve hinted at some ideas, and you’ve seen some in those links toward the top.

Use the list of tastes as a springboard to launch into your own action. (I outline this even more by showing you how to create your testimony.)

Beliefs lead to action. Do you have interested beliefs? Okay, then go for the interested action.

Finished with your main course? Come back tomorrow to see how to make a conversation cake to share these actions with others.

Serving Suggestions

(1) Open a word processor. Make a list of action you can do. Try to give the action as many of the traits as you can.

(2) Pick at least one from your list, and do it right now. Only about 1% of everyone who reads this will actually follow this second step. Be part of that 1%. It will help you remember what you just read and will start you down the path to interested (and therefore interesting) action.

(3) What have I missed? How else does interesting action taste? I’m always interested in hearing what you have to say.

Note: Be sure to read the next post or check out the entire series here.