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I was unfollowing people on Tumblr yesterday- specifically, people who haven’t posted in 8 months or more, and people who deactivated their accounts. I like to keep things trim and neat- following more people than you can digest strikes me as bloated, cumbersome, inelegant and counter-productive. Carrying dead weight is exhausting.<\/p>\n
As I was going through each user trying to figure out whether or not I ought to unfollow them, I found myself subconsciously weighing a startling amount of information. Does this stream of words and images contribute positively to my life? It’s hard to say, and you never want to presume. You never know what you might regret unfollowing. And yet, at the same time, you can’t possibly keep track of everything all at once. Difficult decisions must be made.<\/p>\n
Which got me thinking about other things, like the blogs and webcomics that I follow. Particularly, I thought about some of the blogs that my friends start (that I get moderately excited about) but end up leaving unused after a while. Which got me thinking about blogs in general- hundreds of thousands of blogs start up every day. I don’t know the precise statistics, but I imagine half of them never get past the second or third post. I imagine that New Year Resolutions follow the same pattern, especially those along the lines of “I’m going to start going to the gym”, for instance. You go once or twice, then you miss a session, and before you know it, it’s like you never went at all. Your membership card stares at you accusingly from your wallet. I think I feel the same way about starting new bands, and about friendships and romantic relationships. It isn’t worth very much until you know that it’s something robust<\/strong>, that’s going to stick around.<\/p>\n If you flip it around, it implies that the two most important things to keep in mind when trying to become successful at whatever it is you want to do is:<\/p>\n 1: Do it “Captain Obvious strikes again!<\/em>\u00a0“, you might think. But if you listen to what people claim they want, and pay attention to what they do, you’ll notice something odd- people often seem pretty hell-bent on ensuring that they are never able to accomplish what they say they want!<\/p>\n You don’t have to look very far to witness this phenomenon- often the face in the mirror will suffice. Look at me. I want to be some kind of hot-shot blogger, yet I haven’t really been blogging. I want to be fit, but I don’t really work out. I want to be a musician, but I don’t really touch my guitar much. Why not?!<\/p>\n I think the answer is… (and a lot of my teachers and superiors over the years would have a field day if they heard me say this) is that we try to be too smart for our own good. We worry about weeds before we plant the seeds. <\/strong>We think about all the what-if’s, and all the ways in which things could go wrong. We don’t want to be criticized. We don’t want to be responsible for something that screwed up.<\/p>\n And then, of course, we figure that if we’re going to do something, we’re going to have to do it well. That entails research! Right? We gotta read books about it, consult other people about it. Knowledge is power, don’t make uninformed decisions, etc.<\/p>\n And this is where it gets shitty, because it’s kind of like entering a store or a casino that’s specifically designed to trap you inside, to keep you distracted and blissfully lost, spending, spending, spending. If it’s not your money, it’s your time. If it’s not your time, it’s your attention. Whatever. It’s keeping you from doing 1 and 2. And above all else, you should be doing 1 and 2. Let’s re-cap:<\/p>\n 1: Do it. The exceptions come later- things like “Stop if you encounter physical pain”, or “schedule rest stops”, whatever. Whatever. At any point in time, if you’re not sure of what’s going on, the first questions you gotta ask are- are you doing it? If you’re not, you should be doing it. Have you been doing it consistently and sustainably? \u00a0If not, you should be. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes’ thought.<\/p>\n What is all this? This is me, doing it, as we speak- writing, blogging. It might not be the best thing I’ve ever written, but clearly that’s never going to happen if I stare at a blank screen all day. (Or rather, keep changing tabs and throwing myself neck-deep into internet distractions.)<\/p>\n 1: Do it. Worry about the details later, once it’s done. Go on that date. Write that piece. Play those chords. Attempt those questions. Whatever. Do it, and keep doing it. You shouldn’t have to think so much.<\/p>\n
\n2: Keep doing it.<\/p>\n
\n2: Keep doing it.<\/p>\n
\n2: Keep doing it.<\/p>\n