Want to take and do? STOP! (That's why it's so important to measure 9 times and cut only the tenth)

Goal of the day: 458 words. Written: 535.

I hope you're not one of those crazy people who just get on and do it without bothering to find out how to do it. Without making the effort to learn, to look Answers Google, ask people and consult those who know better.

• If you want to write a book, don't write it! First, listen to a famous writer and learn how he did it.
• If you want to go to India, don't go so straight! Read a good travel book first. One that your local bookshop will recommend.
• If you want to tell a girl or guy you're smitten with that you want to go on a date - don't be an idiot, take your time! So you only have one time - if you're wrong, you're wrong for good.

Sincerely.

No-no-go.
Bye-bye.

Ask lots of questions, consolidate your knowledge, prepare properly!

…
…
…

Do you often say that to yourself?

I hope you're not one of those lunatics who think like that.

I am a writer. I write articles, books, and share ideas that I first consume, digest and then reprocess back.

I am also a mentor at Idialogue.
It's a place where you can find a helper and a teacher for the most important areas of your life, from strengthening your relationships to learning how to draw or sing.

I was asked to help in November last year. It was from a blogger called Ruth, who has been writing about travel and meditation for years and now, she said, wanted to redesign her work, to learn something new, to move forward in her work.

1. Ruth wrote to me. I agreed to help.
2. We had a Skype call that lasted about an hour.
3. During the call, I answered all of Rūta's questions about writing, creativity and blogging.
4. The call ended, I gave Rūta some homework and encouraged her to write in a few weeks when she had done something with her new knowledge.

…

She did nothing then.

Ruth is an information vampire, sucking in knowledge but not using it.

Rūta is the kind of person who buys a bunch of books, but doesn't finish reading any of them. The person who buys training and doesn't use it. The one who takes more than two hours of teachers' time, sits, listens...

...And, well, do nothing.

I used to be such a vampire. I used to write to authors (like Andris Uzkalnis) or spend all day reading articles about how to start and build the World's Best Blog.

Sometimes I even asked my friends to buy me interesting books. And then I would put the books on a shelf that I practically never see.

I was not just a vegetable. I was a weed, spoiling and stealing the time of others.

I'm not angry with Ruth.

There's nothing to it. There are all kinds of people, and I understand - I was one myself.

But don't be Ruth.

Don't be a mule that measures nine times and cuts only the tenth. Don't be the one who plans so long that the plans no longer make sense. The one who procrastinates so long that his girlfriend or boyfriend is snatched from under his nose by another.

You could be Ruth.
Get ready.
Plan.
Think.
Collect ideas.

Or it can be a person.
Use knowledge.
Try it.
Do.
Set yourself an experiment.
Learn.

The only way to learn is to try. Try and then learn, not the other way around. Don't measure, but rather cut.

Trust your hunch.
And with the knowledge you already have.

• Want to write a book? Write.
• Want to travel to India? Go.
• Want to ask me out on a date? Invite.

You might not succeed. You might get burnt. Maybe it will hurt.

But you will learn more from it than just by storing theoretical knowledge in a bottomless vault. And you'll be happy, because at least you tried. And you have lived - not just planned. When you get old, you will have no more strength, no more money, no more time.

And if you have the chance now, take it.

Just as ancient Roman warlords or modern entrepreneurs, independently successful people, have used the opportunity to defeat their opponents.

Give it a try.
What's the worst that could happen?

Will it hurt?

It will pass.

Carping,
Daniel