Is the option to do ANYTHING making us do NOTHING?

"So what do you want to do today?"

It was an everyday question throughout those middle school summers. The world was our playground. We could ride bikes, skateboard, give ourselves funny haircuts, we could do whatever we wanted. And tomorrow it would start all over again.

Every day, a chance to reinvent our world.

Then, as we became adults, we got set into one or two things that feel comfortable so we keep doing them every day.

This is of course not a bad thing. Getting into a routine is a really good way of accomplishing a lot of things in an efficient way.

But it is bad when we lose our imagination and our ability to create new things and have new ideas.

For the first time in history we have the ability and resources to create just about anything we want every day. You don't need to spend your life studying and learning one thing. You can do a new thing every day!

You can have an idea for a book and have it published on Amazon next week.

You can host a podcast with your friends on your phone and be on iTunes in a few days.

You can create your first episode of your tv show idea and post it tonight.

You can broadcast your ideas everyday LIVE from your phone.

We have the ability to do ANYTHING, but most of us are doing next to NOTHING.

Why?

Are we lazy?

Yeah, that might be a part of it for some of us.

But I think most of us are simply overwhelmed.

Not overwhelmed with too much work or too little time.

Overwhelmed with too many options.

Now that we're able to do whatever we want, we can't decide!

A few years ago, if a book publisher gave you a publishing deal, you'd spend a year writing a book and you'd be thrilled that you got that opportunity.

Now the publisher is gone. The publisher is you. Do you want to write a book? Most people do. But most people never do it.

Again, I'm curious why?

Is it easier to talk and dream about doing something than it is to actually get started?

OF COURSE!

We don't fail in our dreams. We can imagine how awesome we'd be and live in that dream state.

As soon as we actually try, there's a good chance it won't work out how we expected, so we never start.

Getting back to the point... too many options makes us unhappy because typically 1 of 2 things happens:

1. We never start because we can't decide

2. We pick something then have regret thinking about all the "what-ifs" of the other options we left on the table

So what's the solution?

I'm not sure. Will you send me a message and let me know how you deal with this?

For me, especially lately, it's been to simply try new things. Don't think about it too long. If something interests me, I do it.

I wanted to write a book, so I wrote a book.

I wanted to start a podcast, so I started a podcast.

Would I be more successful if I concentrated all my energy into just one thing?

Yeah, probably.

But then I'd be left wondering, "What if?"