4 Principles For Getting Unstuck & Taking Action

Why don’t you do what you want to do?

Is a great question. We could debate it for hours.

So thank you for asking.

It could be something to do with my personality. I’m an open‐minded, creative individual who has a serious allergy to structure and routine.

I’m also a bit of an introvert. I prefer to stay indoors and am most at peace with myself when I’m not doing fun things with other people.

Oh, but it’s mainly because I haven’t really found my true passion yet. I’m still searching (after 15 years) for that one thing I would love to dedicate my life to…

Also, memes.

The question of taking action is a paradoxical one.

On the one hand, by engaging it, you can feel like you are inching ever closer towards the answer.

On the other, it can seem like you’re playing some kind of mean, perverted trick on yourself and moving ever further away.

The key is in the question.

Asking?why?don’t you do what you want to do is like stopping and standing firm in a flowing river and wondering,

How do I get downstream?

You could stand there for a very very very long time trying to figure it out.

What is my true purpose?

When will I be ready?

Why can’t I just go ahead and try?

How do I know what is the right thing to do?

Or, you could learn how to let go and flow with the river.

1. Being busy preparing is avoidance. Don’t prepare. Begin

In the 21st century, it’s not that we find it more difficult to know or do what we need to do.

It’s that there are evermore easier ways to avoid doing it.

One of these ways is preparing.

It’s perfectly possible to stay eternally busy preparing yourself and never do what you want or need to do.

Worst of all, the constant busyness can make you feel like you’re making progress and not care as much about actually doing the thing.

Believing we are not ready and may never be keeps us stuck in procrastination.

How many times in your life are you inspired to do something or your wiser self decides on a course of action, only for it to be blown off by a fleeting doubt or a passing distraction or a breeze of an immediate desire?

It already happened to me at least 36 times today.

If something triggers a slight sense of discomfort or doubt, then we often take it as a potent sign that thing is not for us or that we can’t or shouldn’t do it.

Yet at the same time, we often find we have no problem cleaning the house or repairing an old bookshelf or doing the taxes in its place.

We may justify our actions by saying we just need to wait until we feel ready, until we have the skills, and until the right time comes.

I say BS.

How many years do you have to spend preparing yourself and developing the skills and reading books until you’re ready to take action and live your life?

Even infinity wouldn’t be enough. In fact, more years of preparing will only make you better at preparing and less able to take action.

The question isn’t how to feel ready and confident enough. Or how to find the?right?thing. Or how to remove all distractions and develop laser focus.

All this is just further procrastination.

The question is how to get better at taking action.

2. Decision-making is not doing. Action is the answer.

Should I do this or should I do that?

There are so many options today that the decision-making process seems more important than ever.

Many of us are experts in decision making — in weighing up all the pros and cons and laying out intricate arguments — and yet still can’t take action and get anything done.

You may know all the reasons and arguments for exercising and have resolved to do it a few times a week, but never go to the gym.

You may have read all the philosophers and have decided to be a good person, but still treat your mother like the devil.

You may have explored single every disadvantage and advantage of leaving your job and running your own business, but still can’t seem to do it.

Deciding can feel like you’re making progress.

We have this image of Einstein or some other genius in front of a blackboard, working out the universe’s biggest mysteries from within four walls.

But when it comes to real, everyday life, trying to be an Einstein and thinking your way through everything just keeps you stuck.

No matter how much thought and energy went into making a decision, it’s not to be confused with taking action.

All actions create ripple effects in ourselves and the world that we couldn’t imagine or predict before taking them.

We think action comes after we have everything figured out. But this is backward.

Action?is?a way of figuring things out.

The question of whether or not you should do something is best answered through taking action — by making concrete movements in the world — not through hours of circular conjecture until you may or may not feel a bit more comfortable or like you have a more coherent story.

You can form a more and more detailed idea of what lies over the hill, but it will always remain an idea.

3. To “want to do” is not enough. Doing is all that matters.

There are thousands of people living on the streets in Mexico City.

I want to help them.

But I don’t.

Somehow thinking and feeling this makes me feel like I’m doing some good.

After all, I’m not ignoring them, they’re in my thoughts every day. And I’m not virtue signaling — I genuinely?want?to help.

Many of us have wants like this.

We say, I’d?like to?do this,?I’d?like to?do that.

But it usually ends there.

We all have the ability to think about doing something.

But those who learn to put their thoughts into practice are very few.

Many of us today act as if the world could function solely on positive thoughts and good vibes. As if our thoughts mean more than, and even could replace, our actions.

As long as I?think?in a particular way, then it doesn’t matter what I?do.

But really it’s the reverse.

There is absolutely zero merit in just thinking about doing something.

Without action, incredibly inspirational thoughts such as working to eradicate world hunger are worth as much as a fart in the wind.

The only merit is in taking action.

From an early age when we were little farts ourselves, we’re ordered around and told to do this and that and not to do this and that against our will.

From there, we develop a relationship of resistance towards taking action.

We reluctantly do what we are told. Or we avoid it as much as possible.

We get punished for doing what we want to do. Or we learn it’s not good or necessary.

This becomes subconscious until the point we’re not able to do the things we would most like to do for ourselves.

We may think of something as a good thing to do, but, as we’re unable to do it simply and naturally, the idea or chance passes us by.

The result is exactly the same as not thinking about it in the first place.

Doing is all that counts.

4. Clarity comes from taking action.

Scenario:?I should play the ukulele today.

Thoughts:?I haven’t picked it up in 6 months. I will likely have forgotten everything.

Feelings:?Feelings of discomfort, resistance.

Thoughts:?I should have practiced harder. I’m not a musician. I don’t even enjoy it that much.

Feelings:?Sadness, embarrassment, hopelessness, anxiety.

Thoughts:?If the ukulele was for me, I wouldn’t feel like this or be having so many doubts. Forget it, it’s not important anyway.

Feelings:?Discomfort, guilt, greater resistance to taking action.

We imagine that before acting, we should be enthusiastic, highly motivated, and completely free of fear and doubt.

In other words, we think we should know exactly what to do and have absolute certainty before doing it.

There may be moments when this happens. But waiting for them before acting is like waiting until you have a Lamborghini before being happy.

We put a lot of weight on our feelings and thoughts. We try to get them all to line up before we can sit down to write or before going out and exercising or finally picking up that instrument.

I just don’t feel like it.

This takes a lot of energy and effort.

We have much less control over our thoughts and feelings than we do our movements and actions.

Say I want to go for a run but wake up tired and with a bit of a headache.

I may think,?ah I don’t feel so good. It’s too cold. I should probably give it a miss.

But if I got up and took a step out the door, I may notice the fresh air and the sun on my face. I may start jogging and my thoughts and feelings may start to change.

This isn’t so bad. I’m glad I got up.

Thoughts and feelings are like the weather. If you base your life around incessantly trying to ensure it’s always sunny, you’ll never get anything done.

Or, at the very least, you’ll only get things done when the stars mysteriously align.

You don’t have to feel inspired to take action. You don’t even have to know why you are doing something before doing it.

You can have clarity and take the next step. Or, you can be confused and take the next step.

Even if you have clarity in this moment, chances are you’ll run into something that confuses you.

And if you’re confused now, you may always be confused.

Life is confusing.

Don’t let that stop you from taking action.

Don’t ask?if. Do it and find out.

No matter how big or small the action, you can spend a lifetime umming and ahhing about whether to do it or not.

Whether it’s worth your time and effort.

Whether it’s a true expression of who you are.

Whether you should do that or one of the other billion things you could do.

You could think you’re just being really cautious and discerning.

But you’re really just getting skilled at not taking action.

While the river of life is flowing past your feet.

Don’t wait until you're ready. Don’t spend your time preparing and deciding.

Figure things out by taking action. Decide by doing.

Take the first step and let the flow carry you forward.