thinking and doing

thinking and doing are two modes of operation that i consider when talking about work.
this is to say i choose not to apply it with something whimsical or less “important”,
like my attitude with cooking eggs, or how i decide what clothes to wear.

“thinking” is when you make a plan of action to do something.
i think about it most when doing work at my job,
because usually to do my job, i need to at least plan a little bit.

“doing” is what you are doing when you’re literally doing the things that need to be done.

as an example,
if you were tasked with writing a piece of code, but you didn’t know how to do it,
you might spend a lot of time reading docs and watching tutorials and taking notes.
this is “thinking.”

when you decide to open up VScode and start physically typing out code,
and linking libraries, and downloading packages, and debugging,
this is “doing.”

in the book that restarted my adult reading career, Atomic Habits by James Clear,
he presents these ideas as “being in motion” versus “being in action.”

in truth, you could apply the same perspective to something rather mundane,
like when you’re brushing your teeth.

you think about how, when, and where you’re going to brush your teeth,
(with your toothbrush and toothpaste, twice a day, in the bathroom),
and then you execute that plan.

there is a key distinction between the two modes however:
when you are “thinking”, you arguably make no tangible progress towards task completion.
when you are “doing”, you are definitely making tangible progress towards task completion.

this is to say, it can also feel quite satisfying to be “thinking”,
thinking you’re making a lot of progress,
when you’re still right at the start line.

but give it enough time,
and you’ll wonder where all the time went.

when you have a project that feels stuck, personal or work-related, consider:
are you just thinking about it? or are you doing something about it?

me when i feel like i’m doing too much thinking.

i believe we should be less afraid of diving into the muck and seeing what sticks.
i mean that as a message to myself, but i extend the invitation to everyone.

after all, it’s the only way things REALLY get done.

thank you for reading today’s post.
let’s give ourselves the grace to “do” a little more and “think” a little less.