Two recommendations and some hard facts.

Recommendation:

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, has a weekly newsletter I enjoy. In his “3-2-1 Thursday” email, Clear shares 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider. Falling somewhere between philosophy and productivity advice, the email blast is short enough to read in about 2 minutes, and almost always includes at least one interesting concept among its six meme-like tidbits. You can find it here.

Hard facts:

In one his recent emails, Clear shared a quote from the semi-anonymous Loopy, a writer and life coach. In one of his short essays, Loopy identified activities that aren’t the same as doing the thing:

  • 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.
  • Fantasizing 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.

I can add a few of my own:

  • Worrying about what other people think about the thing isn’t doing the thing.
  • Wishing you knew more people doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
  • Berating your skill at the thing isn’t doing the thing.
  • Wondering if you’re too old to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Recommendation:

You can follow Loopy at Strangest Loop and/or Embracing Uncertainty. He also has X and YouTube accounts.

Bonus Recommendation:

Go do the thing.

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