Here’s Your Reminder to Start Doing What You Enjoy Today
Not starting is an act of selfishness
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain
Motivation comes with momentum.
It’s the action that stimulates our drive to do what we love. Everything else is fairy dust.
There’s a subtle glimpse of selfishness in refusing to act on your creativity. It helps no one and solve nothing.
It’s the easy way out.
We assume that by consuming other people’s success stories, we’re improving too. But the trust is most of us remain the same.
We don’t practice what we consume, and we don’t put the information to work. Maybe it’s because we think the process has to be perfect. Or that our ideas need to align just so with the stars in order to be effective.
In reality, no process was ever meant to be perfect. They were meant to lead to new discoveries, new revelations that push us forward.
Let today be day one of a new and meaningful life that involves action, even if it’s chaotic at first.
Inactivity breeds stagnation
It will always be easier to do nothing. We don’t have to worry about wearing ourselves out or giving our brains too much to think about. There’s enough on our plates as it is, so what’s the point of pursuing what we actually care about?
Doing nothing means you stay in the same place. You progress in no way at all. And in the process, you create the habit of embracing complacency.
Whether we realize it or not, we are forming habits every day. We wake up, brush our teeth, take a shower, make our beds, and do all the things that are more like subconscious acts.
But what if we developed the kind of free-flowing routines that feed us on a deeper level?
This is why doing something is the answer. You learn. You fail. You get back up and try again.
Success refuses to knock on doors of the complacent.
Refuse to take the easy way out. While patience is a virtue, complacency is a disease that quickly spreads into other areas of your life.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a little or a lot. What matters is that you put your feet on the track and move, one step at a time.
Not starting is an act of selfishness
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, we all have something valuable to offer the world. In many ways, hiding that is selfish.
An idea that could change someone’s life gets tucked away under a rug. Hidden from the public because of fear of how it might be perceived.
By giving yourself the freedom to work without pursuing perfection, you open the door to producing work that goes beyond the cookie-cutter stuff.
You expand your creative thinking in a way that pushes our world just a little farther. You’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. You’re simply using it in a different way.
Sometimes we crave such a perfect process in our productivity that it keeps us stuck. We stagnate at the hope of guide will never need optimization.
Here’s the problem with that: you’re not the only one seeking improvement. As the world advances, so to does its processes.
This means that processes develop over time. They allow you to iterate, analyze, and iterate again. That can be a messy deal.
But remember, you’re not aiming for neat. You’re aiming for letting your creativity roam free. So here’s a quote that I keep on my desk. It reminds me to keep moving even when things get crazy:
Make it work, then make it better.
Done is far more satisfying than to-do.
Give your idea the exposure it deserves. Doing so could change lives. Sure, have a process, but let it evolve over time.
Don’t stress over the neatness of your workflow. The beautiful chaos will serve its purpose in due time.
Cultivate growth as a routine
Because we are creatures of habit, we often ignore the reality that we have them. Every single day is comprised of a list of actions that are either hurting us or helping us. It’s good to analyze them on a regular basis.
Let’s say you want to plant a garden. One of your biggest dreams is to grow your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs right in your backyard.
Before I looked into it, I assumed all you had to do was dig, plant, and water. The best produce would then spring up and give me the nutrients I needed.
But it’s much more involved than that.
To make the most out of your garden, you need to:
- Pick a good location
- Figure out what you’ll plant
- Prep the garden area
- Gather necessary supplies
- Assess and optimize soil
Only then can you begin the pleasurable act of nurturing and maintaining the plants.
Starting is good. But if you want to stand out, you must analyze the environment, the tools, the habits and optimize for maximum impact.
This revealed to me how much our lives are no different. It’s as if life is full of analogies that are there to teach us how to make the most of our time here.
Instead of binge-watching the same show you’ve seen 20 times, you can take steps today than will change your life tomorrow.
Build that digital product. Start that newsletter. Learn a skill that interests you.
That’s how you make growth a habit, by putting one foot in front of the other and analyzing those steps often.
We are always becoming. The question is what are we becoming?
The answer lies in our habits. They tell the stories of who we are today. But the best part of this truth is that you get to change that.
Who you are today doesn’t mean it’s who you will be tomorrow. Your unproductive routine is not set in stone. Instead, you have the keys to form newer, better, healthier habits that produce good things in your life.
Start. Fail. Grow.
You will learn a lot along the way. And you will discover that solving life-changing problems is one of the most satisfying pursuits in the world.
Never wait on motivation before taking action. It’s the action that stimulates our drive to do what we love.
Everything else is fairy dust.
