Do it. Or Don't. You decide.

"There is no try. Only do."

 —Yoda

(I haven’t seen Star Wars since 1987—my aunt’s basement, pop-up VCR—but this line sticks with me, 39 years later.)

To put it another way:
Do it. Or don’t do it. But stop perseverating on it.

I lived in San Francisco for about a decade. I started complaining about it in 2009. Too many tech bros. The conversations were too one-dimensional (money, get more). I felt bored (which was entirely a “me” problem, friends—that’s a ridiculous thing to be in San Francisco).

In 2011, I was mid-complaint about how I wanted to leave the city when my friend Amir said, “You’ve been singing that song for 2 years. Do it. Or don’t do it. But shut up about it.”

Fifteen days later, I was living in Portland. Message received. And appreciated.

Now I’m older. I have a family and a mortgage and a business. So, “just make a full-on change!” isn’t always the move. But the principle still remains—especially where the quiet, daily cost of not deciding is higher than you think. Because ultimately, we are our habits, our thoughts, and our decisions.

Not choosing is a de facto decision. It’s choosing the status quo on repeat.

I see this all the time in fitness.

The amount of thinking about working out...
The amount of negotiating with yourself about working out...
The amount of background noise it creates.

“I should start.”
“I need to get in shape first.”
“I’ll begin when things calm down.”
“I just need the right plan.”
“Once this heals…”
“On Monday...”

Meanwhile—time compounds. Nothing to show for it. 

The thoughts become low-grade mental clutter, running like that annoying desktop computer fan sound in the background of your life.

Here’s the cleanest way I know to cut through this:
Do it. Or don’t do it. But stop ruminating on it.

Workout for ten minutes. Or don’t.
Join the class even if you’re intimidated. Or don’t.
Rearrange your life to make it conducive to your health. Or don’t.

(And taken further into any other area of your life: do whatever The Thing is. Or let it go.)

I’ve learned there is no magical moment where everything clicks.
There’s just the decision—and the repetition that follows.

To recap:
Step 1) Make a choice.
Step 2) Take small steps to make that choice real. 

In your work. In your relationships. In your health.

Because the real cost of all of this isn’t the missed workout. Or the holding out for your life to start when you feel ready.

It’s being in the constant grip of indecision—or the chokehold of complaining about the same thing ad nauseam. (Please know I write these newsletters pretty much entirely directed at me.)

You don’t need to be “ready” to start. (I don't think that's a real thing.) Show up as you are now—not as some future, imaginary, improved version of yourself.

So this week, I’ll offer us both something simple:

Pick one thing you’ve been circling. 

And decide.

Give yourself the gift of being done with the loop.

XO,