Hey everyone,
These days, I think about this idea a lot.
It took me about 25 years to realise that all that stands between me and the things that I want is some kind of action on the thoughts in my head.
Tangible, real world, thought destroying action.
I spend a lot of time on the left of this image, just thinking about things. Oh boy do I love to think, to imagine, to get hyped up, to feel inspired, to dream of all the things that I want.
āImagine if I had written a book, could do a muscle up, could play the piano, had 1m subscribers on my newsletter, had a thriving business doing something I loved, how cool would all those things be! Wow itās so nice to think about this dreamland in my head, itās so amazing and perfect!ā
But unfortunately, thereās some big scary unknown territory between the outcome that I want and the thoughts in my head.
Action.
Action is the world of uncertainty, failure, self-doubt, criticism, vulnerability, shame, fear.
A scary, thundery, shark infested place.
Letās be real, action is a total bastard. It feels like some kind of high school bully that wants to keep you from becoming who you want to be.
Growing up, I was a relatively low agency child. I did what I was told, didnāt question things too much, and followed the rules. It all seemed to work quite well for me so why bother changing anything.
But over the past few years since leaving university, Iāve had to work really hard to unlearn that mentality and programme my mind to realise that nothing will happen in my life unless I make it happen.
I will not get the things that I want unless I go after them. That is the lesson Iāve taught myself. Iāve tried to become much more high agency and action biased.
I have to make the terrifying leap from thoughts in my head to the scary, shark infested waters of action, to make it to the dreamy land of outcome.
If I want a girlfriend, I have to go looking for it. If I want to make money online, I have to start doing stuff. If I want my work to be enjoyable, I have to design it that way.
But how do we actually take action? What empowers us to get started and work towards the things we desire?
Here are three things that have worked for me.
The first is journalling. This newsletter is essentially a journal, but I also write frequently in my Apple Notes and Day One app with all sorts of thoughts in my head. I sometimes use prompts, I sometimes just write down whatever is in my mind.
But I find journalling to be an exceptionally powerful tool to help me get the thoughts out of my head and into the real world, where I can get a bit closer to the truth and see what the things are that I need to do.
The second thing is ābringing the crisis closerā. The thing that actually got me to start this newsletter and my YouTube channel a few years ago, was imagining a world where I never actually did anything scary or interesting or pursued the thing I wanted to pursue. I imagined the ācrisisā of being on my deathbed, and having the regret of living a life that others expected of me, not one I wanted for myself.
I really tried to think about that scenario, and think about how Iād feel. I realised I had to do something differently if I didāt want that outcome. I had to enter the land of action.
The third thing is more emotional. Itās to summon courage.
When you first start pursuing something new, getting started (and then keeping going) feels scary. Action is a place where you see who you really are and what youāre made of.
So it requires a sense of courage to step into that fear and attempt to be more. To get the things we want, we need to be braver.
Mark Twain said:
āCourage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear.ā
Have an epic week!