Today I want to talk about a seemingly simple concept that most people don’t appear to understand. It pulls itself from the Nike brand “just do it”, which is a wonderful little line that encapsulates the entirety of human ingenuity. Our ability to go out and take action is perhaps the most underutilized freedom we have and something I hope to convey properly here today.
It doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter that your plan isn’t completely figured out. It doesn’t matter that inspiration hasn’t reached you yet. Just do something. Don’t keep thinking about it. Don’t try and plan all the details. And don’t schedule it for later. Just do it now. Do whatever it is that you find productive. Do any tiny thing that you consider progress. Anything you consider worth pursuing. It doesn’t matter if it fits with your plan. Just do something.
So many times in my life I’ve had plans for projects I’ve wanted to pursue. And so many times I’ve failed to complete them. Only recently when I completely dedicated myself to certain tasks have I realized how simple and effective it is to simply take action. There is nothing holding you back but yourself. And in retrospect it seems so obvious. But there was a time when it wasn’t. And I see it even more clearly in people now. So many speak of things they wish to do, and on occasion they will, but ultimately fail. The reason is because they don’t continue doing productive things.
If you find yourself a week or two into a hobby or personal project and suddenly lose sight of the inspiration you initially held, simply do something. Don’t try and remember what it was that got you started. Don’t worry about the dream that seemed so clear but suddenly doesn’t make sense. Instead think of any small task that is related to what you’re doing and do it. It’s that simple.
Our society seems obsessed with this idea that productivity has to be work or something boring. That if I enjoy what I’m doing than it’s not work and thus not productive. Absurd! If you’re a gamer like myself and deem it productive to play a wide variety of games so that you know much about the industry. Than don’t feel guilty about playing them. You’re amassing a type of domain knowledge and there are ways to use it for good. If you want to read more (like I do), then read more. Don’t feel guilty if you’re “supposed” to be doing something else. It doesn’t matter as long as you deem it relevant and productive.
I always catch myself trying to manage my productivity as well and this is detrimental. Rather than trying to balance coding, networking, content production, social interaction, exercise, dieting, keeping up with pop culture, listening to the latest music, reading good books, watching awesome shows on Netflix, etc. Just take a step back and realize it doesn’t matter. It’s all productive in my mind and thus equally valuable. Just choose one to pursue at a time and then another when you’re done. That way you maximize productivity, enjoy what you’re doing, and relieve the ridiculous stress we impart on ourselves. Don’t over think it, just do something.
UPDATE 2016-02-07: An additional issue worth mentioning here is that even when I do something productive I’m still not really satisfied with myself. It seems rare that I finish a day feeling like I seized all the opportunities available to me and the explanation for why is probably as simple as that: I just don’t work as hard as I could. However, this may be unnecessarily detrimental in a self-reinforcing manner where the discouragement of quitting early, even though you were productive, ultimately destroys your ambitions. Rather than praising yourself and staying positive, you needlessly compare what you did to what you could have done in a perfect world. But this is sub-optimal and unrealistic because the beginning of anything is difficult, especially significant life changes. It would be far more beneficial to set realistic, or even low, expectations early on and slowly increment over time as you adjust to the pursuit of productivity instead of desire. Because remember that you’re fighting a tantalizing and short-term effect over the generally drab and difficult challenge of accomplishing something long-term.