Just do it. Stop procrastinating and get on with it. It really should be that simple and years ago it probably was. We should all have the doing habit – that drive inside to see our daily chores completed despite what’s on TV or our to-do list ticked off despite colleagues pestering us. But nowadays we have so many distractions, so many things fighting for our attention and so much stuff that’s so complicated, that the doing habit has been eroded away and replaced by inaction.
In the 21st century it’s no longer a simple matter of picking up a pen and writing or getting your tools out to build something. You can no longer stand in front of a metaphorical conveyor belt and crank widgets all day long because what’s coming down that line is multi-layered, multi-faceted, time consuming and complicated.
Now excuse me while I go on a long analogy worthy of Gregory House. Nowadays the road from A to B is no longer smooth and straight like a Roman road. It’s potholed, snakes all over the place and has numerous pitstops along the way. It’s difficult to make the journey when you’re faced with that. That’s why we need travel guides – Getting Things Done, 7 Habits, Zen To Done, Do It Tomorrow, The 4-Hour Work Week – so that we are better prepared to navigate all of those bumpy roads and make the journey easier. But at the end of the day you still have to hop in the car and get moving. You still have to just do it. You still have to stop procrastinating and get on with it. The old advice applies now more than ever.
What I’m trying to say is that the doing habit has become increasingly lost in a world which on one hand expects instant results and allows you to pick and choose what you want, but on the other hand is dumbfounded by just what it actually takes to do something nowadays. Getting 7 Zen Habits Done In 4 Hours is great (invaluable?) for giving you a direction and guidence and making the whole process easier, but it’s still not going to mean you’ll do anything. That’s a habit you need to rediscover or develop through commitment and repetition to the original rule of productivity – just do it.
October 8, 2009 at 12:10PM
I disagree though I respect your point. Procrastination tells us that what we’re doing is not worthwhile or at least not worth doing yet. It helps weed out what I think I should be doing from what I’m authentically moved to do. Also, it could indicate that prerequisites (inner or outer) might not be in place.
The worst of all situations is consistently completing task or tasks that we’d be better off not doing now. This could range from working too effectively in a job we have no passion for, or supporting an unnecessarily large lifestyle we actually would feel better off dropping, or mindlessly doing filler tasks to avoid the dread of sitting quietly and simply being.
Addiction to productivity is one of the most insidious addictions. There’s truth in what you say too, but I felt compelled to throw this counter point in there.
October 8, 2009 at 01:38PM
If only it were that easy… Why just doing it can sometimes be so difficult is a subject I have been researching lately. Not least because I’m a bit of a procrastinator myself. I believe that nowadays, while it’s easier to distract oneself than ever before, there are many more opportunities for self-expression and building meaningful businesses.
October 8, 2009 at 03:23PM
I think there is a lot to be said for just doing it. Procrastination is something I deal with everyday and most of the time, it’s because I have unpleasant or difficult work ahead of me. If I simply just do it, then it gets done. If I pick ten other easier tasks (which happens a lot), it will get done next week. I think you make a great point in this article.
October 8, 2009 at 05:26PM
It’s amazing how many people are wasting time, justifying their own procrastination, instead of just doing it.
October 8, 2009 at 08:54PM
This is really what it always boils down to. Unfortunately, just doing it doesn’t seem to have the same appeal as endless lists of tips and tricks. I think people don’t want to admit that it really is as simple as just buckling down and doing the work. The endless search for the perfect tip or the best hack can be much more entertaining than putting your nose to the grindstone and actually getting things done.
October 8, 2009 at 09:57PM
It’s always more fun to spend eight hours to find the perfect shortcut for that job that should take ten minutes!
October 8, 2009 at 10:03PM
I completely agree. This is actually part of a class I teach called the GO System. If you have anything that you can do in sixty seconds or less, just do it! So often people look at tasks and say, “Oh, I’ll get to it later”. And off it goes on a stack. Those stacks lead to clutter and clutter leads to distractions. There is a great book called Following Through by Steve Levinson and a quote from that book states “There is nothing more daunting than the hanging on of an uncompleted task”. So true.
October 9, 2009 at 04:23AM
Hi James.
I’m all about this. The quicker I just do it, the sooner I get results. You get back what you put in, and I’m focusing on that creation and consumption ratio at all times.
You are right about the point where you say that it can become something that is not as obvious as it was before. At that point, it is up to us to break the new it down into pieces that make sense.
October 9, 2009 at 07:56PM
Lots of comments, thankyou!
Sam and Aaron, I agree that just doing it doesn’t hold the same interest as trying to come up with different systems, lifehacking, experimenting with tools, etc. We like puzzles and solving “problems” even if that problem is in our heads.
Nowadays, I look at my to-do list and I just have to complete the stuff on it (note that that is only a handful of tasks a day so it’s not like it’s a big list) regardless of whether I’m tired or feeling unproductive or whatever. It takes a bit of practise just like building any habit but it’s invaluable once you’ve developed it.