Day 143: On Falling in Love With the Idea of Starting
What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?
There’s an inherent danger in sharing with everybody what you’re going to do: you might fall in love with the idea of starting something at the expense of actually doing it.
Telling others about your plan can be addictive because it delivers a reward without you having done any meaningful work: you boast about what you’re going to do, people are impressed, and you get a sense of accomplishment.
For example, I used to talk about starting to travel more, but whenever I was faced with an opportunity to go on a trip, I was scared.
It was easier and more pleasant to talk with my friends about all the exciting places I would go to. Today, while I still feel some resistance prior to going on a trip (particularly a more demanding adventure, such as visiting an exotic country), I almost never talk about my plans until I actually book the flights and the trip converts from being a wish into becoming a real-world action.
Are there any goals of yours that you “started” working on a long time ago, but which in fact still remain in the realm of unmaterialized plans? An easy way to figure this out is to think of
your recent conversations and find a topic that you frequently talk about, but never actually act upon.