Do the Thing

“When it’s important to you, you’ll just do it.” - Naval Ravikant

Damn. Naval really gets me. 

My last post was very “anti-productivity techniques" and this one is about to mirror it. 

I was listening to the podcast between Chris Williamson and Naval Ravikant and I’m glad that I had just finished my set of dips because I’m 97% sure that my arms would have given out and I would have smacked my face on the backstop of the assisted dip machine if I hadn’t. 

The thing about wanting to do something is that if you really want it, nothing is going to get in your way. Not your lack of experience. Not the latest Ali Abdaal - doctor turned entrepreneur latest productivity advice. Not your friends. Not your family. Not your lack of skill. Not your lack of knowledge. Nothing. 

Tom Bilyeu says that the scariest thing about excuses is that they are true. Whatever your reason for not doing something, you are right. Your excuse is valid. But, to Naval’s point, once it becomes important to you, you’ll just do it. 

For me, I had squeezed my stomach fat one too many times in the shower and logged into the Call of Duty servers to play a Call of Duty game that I am not super thrilled about for the nth time too many. 

Then I squeezed my “sitting in a chair stomach fat” after finishing a game of Search and decided at that moment that I needed to do something. 

I couldn’t continue being this discipline lacking monster that I had become if I ever wanted to get remotely close to achieving my goals. 

I was supposed to be a millionaire in my 20s, not a fatter version of myself, constantly disappointed in the person I had allowed myself to become. 

I started going to the gym - fighting my bad dietary habits (not wonderfully but more than I had been). Doordash is so damn convenient after work. 

Another Call of Duty sesh and weeks of stagnant weigh-ins paired with a bodybuilding.com app update that was the equivalent of application suicide later, I received my final push to hire a dietitian. 

For the low, low cost of 2.5 hour lifting and walking sessions 5 times a week, eating the same meals every day for 2 months (we’re still going strong), 14k step counts, daily weigh-ins, weekly reflections, video and picture progress updates, and $70 a week to still do all of the work, I have left the lard shaped shackles in the dust. 

The wild part? I had been talking to myself for 4 years about the importance of me getting into the gym for my health and well being. 4 years.

Apparently all it takes is years of not resonating with who you are becoming for things to become important enough just do it. 

This is a very tongue-in-cheek way of saying that - my health and personal goals finally became important enough for me to full send it. 

I know that it may be years before anything comes from the work that I am putting in but I feel like a blacksmith sharpening a sword preparing for battle. 

When it gets here, I’ll be prepared. 

While I talk about self-loathing being a catalyst for me, it doesn’t have to be yours. 

Whatever works, works but this is likely not a “healthy” approach. 

To be clear, I love the person that I am and believe that you should too. I know that I am a person that tries to do right by myself and others. I try to be kind and considerate to the people I encounter. 

While I may not be perfect, I try to be a person I’d be okay being surrounded by. 

The self-loathing for me was just disappointment in one facet of my life - not my life in general. I know that my potential is boundless if I lean into it. This means that I have no idea what I could accomplish and I was disappointed that I wasn’t taking steps to see what this boundlessness looked like. 

I believe the same thing for you. While it is realistic to acknowledge that not all of us have the same potential, your taking action could outpace those that have 1000x your potential but never decide to do anything. 

So I ask you, what is important to you but hasn’t reached a level of importance that you are just doing the thing? What’s your reasonable excuse? How can you overcome it? Every obstacle is an ability to build your skills and add to the story that you’ll tell as you look back. 

Don’t let your obstacle be the end of your journey. 

If you are still finding excuses to not do the thing - it’s not as important to you as you want it to be. Where can you focus your attention so that you are actually willing to take action?