All humans must act.  Action is always used to remove an uneasiness.  Sitting on the couch is still an action to remove an uneasiness.  Human action must be distinguished from involuntary action, like a sneeze.  Human action is a conscious adjustment.  Purposeful behavior is very different from a reflexive behavior.  Man must intervene in the course of events to improve his condition.  There is no way around this.

Human action doesn’t distinguish between active and passive behavior.  Both are attempts to improve your condition.  The active man may be up working nonstop.  The passive man may be binge watching TV.  Not every action will turn out correct, but this action was taken to remove the uneasiness at the time.  Both men choose between the state of affairs they are in and how they want them to be.

Actions may change based on information and desires.  Some sort of action must be taken.  Humans don’t go on autopilot.  Economists use the evenly rotating economy only as a hypothetical state of affairs.  An individual may choose to work more or less.  A third-party can’t say whether this is good or bad.  He is acting to remove an uneasiness.  Each individual chooses his own state of affairs.

The individual chooses his course of action.  We could say this makes him happy.  However, this happiness can’t be measured.  This happiness is subjective to him.  It’s impossible for a third party to determine how happy this action made him.  Anytime someone claims to measure happiness—like the happiness of a country—is beyond absurd.  This might even be more ridiculous than the concept of measuring utility.

An impulsive action is still action.  This is not a reactive behavior.  Little thought may have gone into the action.  Nevertheless, it’s still an action.  The statist will want you to think men can be moved around like chess pieces.  All humans must act.  Unlike chess pieces, they have the will to move themselves.  As the great Mises pointed out, “He arranges his wishes and desires into a scale, he chooses, in short; he acts.”

Reference

Ludwig von Mises; Human Action