What Makes It an Antimetabole?
An antimetabole is a literary and rhetorical device where words or phrases from the first half of a sentence are repeated in the second half, but in reverse grammatical order.
If we break down your core philosophy, we can see the exact mirror image structure at play:
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A: Act
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B: Thinking
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Reverse:
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B: Think
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A: Acting
A Close Cousin: Chiasmus
You might also hear people call this a chiasmus. While they are very similar, there is a subtle difference that makes your definition more precise:
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Chiasmus reverses the concepts or grammatical structures, but doesn’t necessarily use the exact same words.
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Antimetabole specifically reverses the exact same words.
Because you are flipping the literal words “act” and “thinking/acting,” you have created a perfect antimetabole. It’s a classic, powerful rhetorical tool used by master communicators because the symmetry makes the truth of the statement instantly memorable and impossible to argue with.
It hits right between the eyes!
                           