Do literally anything

There are a lot of things I want to do. I want to create and build and make and write.

And then, of course, there are other things that I just have to do, like bookkeeping and responding to emails.

Sometimes, it all gets to be too much. There are too many things to do! I need to figure out where to start! I get paralyzed by the sheer enormity of it all.

This has happened enough times that I know the solution: do literally anything.

It doesn't matter what! Write half of an article. Categorize two expenses. Write down all your ideas for videos. Clean your office. Respond to a single email.

By doing anything, I find momentum. I find motivation! I ease the heavy feeling and find my stride. The mere act of doing pushes back the tidal wave of thoughts.

The problem is primarily emotional. I feel paralyzed.

The solution is primarily emotional too! Just do one thing.

By doing one thing, I feel like maybe things are doable after all. And if things are doable, then maybe I can do more things!

Progress leads to progress, motion to motion.

There have been times when I've looked at the amount of stuff that needs to be done and thought: "everything is impossible. Nothing can ever be finished. There's no way that anything in the universe has ever been done."

And since there's no way that all of this can be done, I'm just gonna sit here and worry about everything that needs to be done!

Do literally anything.

Make progress on literally anything.

It may not be rational, but it is helpful, so who cares if it's rational? Certainly not me.

It's a solution to overwhelm, but I've found it's also a solution for another issue: underwhelm. Aimlessness!

The complete opposite problem! Having too little to do or not knowing what you want to do.

If I'm stuck thinking, "I don't know what I want the next phase of my career to be," or "I don't have any ideas for videos," or "I don't know what projects to build," the answer is the same: do literally anything.

Know that it's okay to change course once you've started. It's okay to start something and then realize something might be better for you. That's the beauty of action; it opens paths you wouldn't have seen earlier.

You'll rarely discover "what's next" by standing still. Start working on something. Start tinkering. That will put you in motion to figure out what "the thing" is.

Overwhelmed? Underwhelmed?

Do literally anything.