"You Can Just Do Things" and Should

The whole "you can just do things" adage is super popular right now. It's the latest copy, pasted, based take that is ALL over my twitter and Substack, but in this case I actually think it is still not talked about enough. Even when pondering, "you can just do things", I don't think we illuminate truly the amount of opportunity that we leave untouched. And I'm not talking about the stuff that we consciously say NO to. What's more alarming to me, is the opportunity that doesn't even register in our minds.

There is a massive inertia working against change, holding us fastened to our trajectory and propagandizing our sense of normalcy.

I think one of the best ways to weaken or at least redirect this inertia, is through commitments.

I've sensed this in several different ways:

• Going from working at a startup under an engineering lead, to working entirely for myself on my own business. I know I'm intrinsically motivated, but golly is it easier to get work done with a boss. I'm not afraid to pretend otherwise.

• And even on my own business, when things are slow and I have to create work, said work can be slow and difficult. When my business grows and concrete priorities are revealed, the output comes fast and easy.

  • My business is bootstrapped and profitable, and we've gone through slower periods of growth. Whereas for my venture-funded peers, they have raised capital and with it, expectations. This I think is one positive of raising venture.

• When I'm home with my family, I like to cook dinner as much as possible for them. Maybe it's the full spice cabinet, larger kitchen-space, easy to please guests (parents), I don't know. However, most of the time, in the middle of a busy week I'm more than happy to default to my mom's (superior) home cooked meals. But when I decided to promise her I'd cook dinner on the upcoming Wednesday and Friday, my calendar made room for it. My busy week, well it was still busy, but time for grocery shopping and cooking just found it's way into it.

• In my personal life, when I was spending some time in Buenos Aires, I signed up for 3 Spanish classes a week. I had a 100% attendance rate. My weeknight side project, didn't get the same attention. Interesante.

What I'm getting at, basically, is that it that a lot of our growth (personal and professional) comes when there are expectations or commitments. That doesn't mean we aren't self-motivated. It just means the best of us find ways to set those rigid expectations for our future selves.

And so what I prescribe to the curious reader is to create commitments for yourself, but don't worry about them being perfect. Maybe want to cook more? Tell your friends that you're having them over for dinner on Thursday. Want to learn a new language? Put Duolingo away and find a tutor. Want to get better at running? Register for a race.

As you set commitments for yourself, you hijack the inertia of your life. In doing so, the veil will thin out and more opportunity will come into view.

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Some concepts that I didn't tie in here, but feel like part of the same constellation of thought:

• The nature of responsibility

• Parkinson's Law: work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion

• Accountability / Social pacts