Do the thing and you shall have the power.

A pamphlet on procrastination, from a professional.

For most of my life, I’ve procrastinated. Don’t get me wrong, I have some incredible windows of time filled with relentless execution. These periods are probably partially fuelled by the self-loathing that comes as a result of procrastination as a desire to prove to myself and other people that I can produce and perform. Aside from that, yeah I’m probably procrastinating.  Hella unfinished articles, brilliant half baked business plans, minor tasks in my planner that I keep prolonging to the next day or week. I even procrastinate eating, going to the loo and doing things I like; what can I say, I like to go all in, I’m a champ lol. This is my way of saying I can relate, it’s not just you. We’re hardwired as humans to avoid extra effort and discomfort, which are often necessary ingredients to win. 

The problem is procrastination is delaying the life you could have. You would probably have the life you wanted now if you had just done the thing last week. Procrastination is missed money and opportunities. Trust me. I made a list last week of all the opportunities, money plays and even brand campaigns I can remember missing out on by procrastinating and it was mind-blowing; those are just the ones I can remember. 

“Do the thing and you will have the power.” It’s a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which changed my life. I discovered this quote in my early teens in Jeff Olson’s incredible book The Slight Edge, and I’ve said it to myself every day since. Action = Achievement. Procrastinating = Poor Performance. It’s so simple and so obvious, although not necessarily easy. I’ve found this useful because, well, I’ve always been interested in power, the ability to influence the world to be better and leave a legacy, so the quote in its literal sense appeals to me. However, the power can be more broadly translated to empowerment, to anything that betters your life. Go to the gym and you’ll be healthier and sexier. Study and you’ll be smarter. Save money and you won't stress, and so on and so forth. 

The quote directly ties effort to effect, it reminds you that the action is necessary for achievement. I find this useful because I like results. Impact. Making people smile. Wealth. Influence. Accolades. Respect. Admiration. Whatever it is that motivates you, whatever your why is? It’s on the other side of the work. That is the “power”, that comes only when you actually do the thing that you’ve been avoiding. Instead of “just add water”, it’s “just add work”, unfortunately.

There’s a school of thought that emphasises that the work itself is the reward. After all, the reward for a job well done is more work. Work should be rewarding itself; for example, I often find that I get into a flow state when I write or come up with a Go-To-Market strategy etc. The work itself, the process of creation is a drug I crave and there is much research to show that the flow state that comes from doing meaningful and challenging activities is one of the crucial ingredients for happiness.  All we have in life is the journey. The journey is the film, as is said on Dave’s album We’re All Alone In This Together. The destination is actually death, so there’s no point rushing is there? All this “enjoy the process”, the ‘journey stuff’… is great. Me, though, I love the prize. I’m in it for the trophies. I like to compete and conquer and win. Enjoying the process has become more important to me. Finding peace and purpose inside the day-to-day is a competitive advantage that helps you win. The guy or gal who loves the game more is more likely to get a ring. Intrinsic motivation is really powerful and you probably shouldn't be doing anything you completely hate because there’s a medal at the end. The trophy probably won’t feel that fulfilling.

Even if the goal is meaningful to you, there will be times that the process just sucks or everything feels too stressful. This is often when we procrastinate. There will be times when you don't love the grind. That's fine, that’s the game. No one loves their job 100%; liking 50+% of your job is probably lucky. Jeff Bezos reflected, “Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over… stress comes from ignoring things that you shouldn’t be ignoring”. Most of the time, when I’m anxious it’s because I haven’t done the work. Most of the time, it takes 5 minutes but you end up spending 5 weeks worrying about something that can be fixed with an email or phone call.  We all know this intrinsically. Tie up loose ends, do the thing.  I have often found that the wins I seek are in the work I’m avoiding. A good indicator of how much value I’ll derive from doing an activity is usually directly proportional to how much I want to delay or avoid it. Many ancient cultures have myths about heroes entering a mysterious cave, that is often where the treasure is or where the magical insight is gained that empowers the hero with wisdom to conquer the final beast. These are often allegories meant to communicate deeper human truths. The treasure you seek is in the cave you fear the most. 

Tim Grover, from his book Relentless: “You don’t have to love the work, but you’re addicted to the results.” In other words, “do the thing and you’ll have the power.” Do what’s necessary to get the job done, even if you don’t like it. Bezos comes again, with another banger: “My best memory at Princeton is finishing problem sets of partial differential equations. And my worst memory of Princeton is starting my problem sets.” The middle was probably enjoyable too, but starting is usually hell and sometimes, only the motivation of finishing, winning, completing (the power) is capable of pushing you to start doing the necessary thing. Most of the time, we enjoy the process in hindsight; winning has an incredible way of making you forget the pain you endured to obtain it. It’s funny, I think back on the first lockdown, the months I spent in isolation, without a phone, fundraising for my first company and studying for my Final exams as the most meaningful and happiest times of my life. When I look back at my journals and videos I took, I thought I was losing my mind. It’s funny that huh? Now, when I reminisce, I completely forget that I was fighting for my life. After all, pain is temporary but that feeling of glory, that right there is forever. The work doesn't feel like a reward but the reward is always in the work, so find a way to do the work. I don’t really like work but I like to win, so the answer is clear. Do the thing.

Ernest Hemingway is instructive: “Never mistake motion for action.” Steve Blank developed this into a concept I encountered last week, which James Clear refined.  Watch one more youtube video. Read one more article or book. Ask one more mentor.  These are all ‘activities’ that we often feel we must do before we can do the ‘real thing’, like start a podcast or launch a charity. Motion is all the activities that feel productive; the ‘thing’ is the action that actually produces. I love to research a new supplement or some new exercise. That’s not what gets me gains though. Taking the supplement consistently and doing the exercise consistently is what makes signs.  Smart people often have this issue, overthinking and over planning. It's one I’ve been prone to. When writing Cheat Codes, I spent months and months researching and planning the book. In some regards, this is what made it a good book. Preparation was necessary. However, I wouldn't have produced a book If I didn't sit down to write for 30 hours straight. Without production, I’d just have some notes in my google docs. All that wisdom was of no use to anybody if it stayed on my laptop. I wouldn't have gotten paid, I'd have to keep repetitively answering the same questions in my dms, I wouldn't have helped hundreds of students and dozens of real people with hopes and dreams and futures may not have gotten dream grades if I hadn't just gone and done the thing.

One of my first investors gave some great advice in my toughest time: yes, take some time to rest and reflect but “don't be overly academic, ship sh*t”. He re-emphasised, keep building things, that’s when you’ll really learn. Philosophising and preparing are often procrastinating. Preparation is pointless unless you actually do the thing eventually.  It’s a fine balance. James Clear reflects that “when you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategising and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behaviour that will deliver an outcome.” As he remarks, “sometimes motion is useful, but it will never produce an outcome by itself. It doesn’t matter how many times you go talk to the personal trainer, that motion will never get you in shape. Only the action of working out will get the result you’re looking to achieve.” I’m a big believer in strategy. I spend a lot of time researching and planning, looking for the most efficient route and the right lever to pull. A bible verse I love says, “If the axe is dull and one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; but wisdom/skill produces success” (Ecclesiastes 10:10 NIV). I like to make sure my axe is sharp as possible, so I don't have to use much strength - that is the essence of the cheat codes lifestyle. However, you’re still going to have to swing the axe and use some strength. You can’t sharpen the axe all day and expect the tree to just fall. You have to do the thing, then you have the power (or in this case, some wood).

This kernel of wisdom is one that humans have wrestled with from time immemorial. Epictetus, a former slave who rose to become one of the greatest philosophers, reflected on this 2000 years ago in a passage that is saved as my phone screensaver: 

"How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary. From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now, you are at the Olympic games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. This is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet Socrates, should live as someone who at least wants to be Socrates." A simple message, do the thing and you’ll make progress. Make progress and you’ll have power. Socrates is one of the wisest men to live and as such, his name and contribution are remembered. Epictetus tells us that Socrates’ power was borne out of a relentless commitment to acting out his principles, day in, day out, and doing what was needed.

It’s not just the ancients of Greece and Rome, nor the renowned writers of the 19th and 20th Centuries who grasped the importance of actually doing the thing. Many times, we’re not doing the thing because we’re busy talking or tweeting. As Master P says, “I been bout it, I mean we bout it, bout it”... meanwhile, “everyone talks about we doin' this, we doin' that”. Mia X goes on to say, on the same Master P track, they “know that I'm bout it already, I can prove it so when they hear my voice, they all know I come to do sh*t.” There is a power that comes from consistently doing the thing: respect, reputation, reliability. If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready and you don’t have to stress privately or worry about being exposed publicly, because you know it’s getting done.  Tim Grover speaks on this concept,  in his book Relentless: “Fear and respect: let them know you were there by your actions, not your words or emotions. You don’t have to be loud to be the focus of attention.” It reminds me a lot of a line I love from Wale’s  Ambition: “You know you real, you don't say it. You know you real, we gon’ feel it.”  

A lion doesn't have to roar for you to know it’s a lion. A lion isn't trying to prove to you it's a lion. It’s just out here doing the damn thing, dominating its prey and strolling across the savannah, as a lion does.  Occasionally, the lion might roar, make some a little bit, just to remind you not to play with him. The roar means nothing unless he’s prepared to bite. It's the bite, the action that gives the roar its power. Just like planning is useful, so can talking, but only when combined with action. The results are the difference between delusion and being undeniable. Tim Grover said: “I always felt Michael’s [Jordan]  legendary trash talking wasn’t meant for the other guy; it was another way for him to heighten the pressure he put on himself because once you’ve told others how bad you’re about to f*** them up, you’re gonna have to deliver on that promise.”  I, too, like to talk my ish from time to time. I said in front of a room of a hundred-plus people during a goal-setting seminar that I would get a First from Cambridge when on all accounts it was unlikely. I did the same on a zoom call with hundreds of other people. I told people on nights out at uni. At some point though, the talking had to stop and the work had to start. I had to shut up and study. I did the thing and I eventually got the power. I got my First… in every single exam… and a Prize… and a scholarship…. I can talk my ish properly now because I have the result. If I stayed talking about it, I wouldn't have had it.  I had to do the thing. Talking is only useful if it motivates more action; then, eventually, you won't have to speak because the results speak for you. 

Here’s a useful exercise to put that into practice, since we’re making a movie, right? We’re writing our own stories, our own personal legends. Every day, we shape the life we want to live but also how we want to be remembered. Reloading Epictetus, who reminds us to “Remember that the contest is now, you are at the Olympic games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event.” The movie is on, the cameras are rolling and every second counts. Life is a movie, but let’s imagine your movie is a silent movie, Charlie Chaplin-style.  Would someone else be able to tell your priorities based on your actions, if you couldn't speak? Do your actions line up with what you say you want to be, do or have? Most of the time, it doesn’t and this is a great litmus test for if you need to take more action. In this case, the movie probably doesn’t have the ending you envisioned and it’d be extra disappointing if the promo video (all the talking about great things will be), don’t match the real movie. It’s no surprise our homie Epictetus said, “Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it”; or as Master P would say, be ‘bout it ‘bout it. You get the picture. I’m writing to myself, more than to the reader, at this point.

Time to get the day started, tick off some boxes and tie up some loose ends… I know you want the power, so do the thing!