Do Now, Think Later!

by AJ

Teaching at McEnglish was a demoralizing experience.

But good things have grown out of it. First, I committed to writing. Second I decided to launch a pilot language program once I get based somewhere. I've had enough. The only future for me is an autonomous future. While I may need to work to keep income flowing, it is time to stop bitching and start launching demo projects.... published articles, more writing, more posts, simple research studies on our Effortless Language Acquisition methods, and an Effortless English class taught out of my apartment (once I get one).....

All of this can be summed up with the phrase, "Do now, think later!" Im usually guilty of the opposite... too much thinking and planning and not enough doing. Its a disease common to many. It paralyzes us and kills our dreams.

Whatever those dreams, reach them through action followed by analysis... rather than the reverse. A grand journey? Work abroad? A novel? A freelance business? The desire to be a writer, artist, actor, filmmaker.... All reached best through action, action, action first-- then contemplation.

Contemplation is absolutely necessary. Vital. But we must first give ourselves something worthy of contemplation. Grand experiments. New experiences.

For my own inspiration, Im reading some of Tom Peters' quotes. Below are a few of his best, the sort of thing that attracted me to his blog in the first place. Here's a sample:

Have the sheer audacity to challenge conventional wisdom, accept the lumps upon lumps associated therewith- and persist until victory.

All progress depends on counterintuitive leaps into the unknown. Do now, think later! At the very least you'll have something to think about since you've just done... something.

Plans do not make the world go around. What does? Demos! Stories! Heroes! Tests! Palpable Experiments! Prototypes! So: Go concrete! Fast! Gimme a .... Hero. Gimme a .... Story. Now.

For failure is the mother of success. "Fail faster. Succeed sooner."

Yeah, thats it.

Enough with mediocre successes. I've reached a turning point. I simply cant stomach mediocrity anymore. Better poverty. Better another stint of voluntary homelessness. Better to be fired. Better to be a poor writer & failed freelancer than a well paid slave.

Better to fail gloriously.


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