“First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want, and then do that work.”
EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.23.1-2a
The theme for May is one that is near and dear to my heart: taking action. It’s something that I’ve given a ton of thought to, and have written a lot about.
But thinking and writing are easy — what’s harder (and a thousand times more important) is actually taking action. Grabbing your ideas and your desires and making them happen is worth more than all the thinking in the world. This is the point being made in today’s chapter of The Daily Stoic.
As the old saying goes: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. And if you spend too much time on the sidelines pondering how to get started, then you haven’t really taken a shot at all, have you?
While you’re sitting there trying to guarantee perfection instead of being pragmatic, there’s another version of you in an alternate universe which has simply gotten started. And instantly, by default, they are further along than you are. That version of you knows that over-thinking is poison to progress. So they just took imperfect action and leaped out boldly into the unknown.
So quit screwing around, and decide the person you want to be. And then go be that person.
Determine what you want, and make it happen. You won’t know until you try. Set everything else aside and give it everything you’ve got. Then the doubts and what-ifs will be answered. You will learn if you have what it takes — instead of forever wondering about it.
