why you have to do the thing
no one likes to be told what to do, but i’m telling you… you have to do the thing.
you know… that thing that won’t leave you alone. that thing that when you think about doing it, you get all sweaty and light up a little but then tell yourself all the 100 made up reasons in your head that you can’t do it, shouldn’t do it, everyone will make fun of you for it, etc.
i can rattle off all of these because i’ve said them to myself hundreds of times… but the fact still remains… you have to do the thing. because it’s not going to just magically leave you alone. it’s going to keep annoying the crap out of you until you get over the fear and take the leap.
here’s the thing you don’t understand about it… you don’t have to know why. you don’t have to know where it’s going. you don’t have to know what it looks like. you have to trust that the Author of this whole thing knows better than you do… but He can’t steer a parked car. so what you’re gonna have to first is move…
it doesn’t have to look good. it doesn’t have to be perfect. you don’t have to be ready. none of those things are qualifications for moving… you simply need to move.
do the thing. do it messy. scared. fearful. confused. doubts intact. feeling like you’re not good enough or cool enough or smart enough… whatever. your action will put all of those lies to bed. because this thing has been pestering you for so long, there are things that are bursting at the seams to happen…. waiting for you to just do one simple stupid little movement. then all the next steps can finally start falling into place… i bet they won’t wait long. they’re tired of waiting on you.
i do this with music still sometimes. i do this with my business. social media. whatever. i’ll be dreaming of something in a very “wouldn’t that be cool” kind of way, but before i can even get the good thoughts out of my brain, here comes Mrs Doubt throwing fire all over my dreams, convincing me to turn around and not take the action.
then i try to convince myself that i don’t know what to do. Chief Lie of All The Lies, right there. i always at least know of one small thing that i can do that moves the needle. we’re not looking for home runs here… although i’m pretty good at convincing myself that it’s a home run or bust… that’s just my competitive nature. you just have to move the needle. you just have to breathe a little life on the thing and the next steps will almost take care of themselves.
last thing that’s required is patience… but still taking action while practicing patience. sometimes the waiting is the hardest part, just like Tom Petty always told us, but the last thing you actually want to do is sit on your hands in these moments. an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest. if you had momentum going a little, don’t kill it. it took you long enough to move in the first place. don’t quit.
i’m telling you, even if the next action you see in your mind doesn’t seem to make sense, take it and find out. if it’s not 100 percent amazingly spot on, at least you’re still in motion and can pivot. isn’t it easier to turn something that’s already moving than something that’s completely sitting still? haven’t we been over this…?
anyway… these were just some quick thoughts i wanted to jot down and hit “send” before i forgot about them. i’m not ever writing these things with extra status of having figured anything out. these are always things i’m learning too. same as you. i’m just typing it instead of keeping it in my brain.
hope you’re having the best day, week, and month you could possibly be having.
♥, SF