The Primacy of Personal Action

It’s an introspective time and I’m an introspective person. I’m kicking off the new year with a reminder of the importance, not just of reflection, but also of action.

Robert Chambers, the grandfather of participatory methodologies in community development, writes about “the primacy of personal action” in his book Rural Development: Putting the Last First. I printed out part of this section to keep me acting, not just thinking, in the year to come:

It is action that matters. Much of the analysis in this book has been about knowing – about how outsiders perceive or do not perceive rural deprivation. But knowing does not guarantee a change of feeling; and a change of feeling does not guarantee a change of behaviour. So we come to the final, paradoxical, reversal: to start by acting. Changes in feeling and perception can come back to front, from changed behaviour and the experiences it generates. The traditions of science, scholarship and management are to begin with data collection, analysis, and planning, often protracted, often delaying action. But there are usually some obvious things that can be done at once. Not everything can or should be foreseen. It is often best to start, to do something, and to learn from doing.