Jeremy C Kester

“Preparing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Scheduling time to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Making a to-do list for the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Telling people you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Writing a banger tweet about how you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Hating on other people who have done the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Fantasising about all of the adoration you’ll receive once you do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Reading about how to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Reading about how other people did the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Reading this essay isn’t doing the thing.

The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.”

Unknown

This one came from one of Chris Williamson’s 3-Minute-Monday emails. He doesn’t attribute the quote and after a brief search online, I couldn’t find where it came from.

This is both motivating and depressing in how it points out all the ways that we avoid actually doing something while claiming to be moving in that direction. How often do we plan, research, debating, etc about the thing we are trying to do while never getting to actually doing it? I know I am quite guilty of that.

It’s time to stop talking about it and getting to it.