#319 Starting silly small

When you decide if you should be chasing this goal, job, relationship, or place to live – in other words, commitment – you choose between action or inaction based on if it’s a viable, worthwhile, realistic goal.

When you decide on the course of action – in other words, how to do something – you’re already committed to action.

Sometimes, the commitment might be too big, too hard, or too disruptive – and that’s perfectly valid.

But here’s what I’ve noticed, my friend: whenever I try to decide on the how before I’ve decided on the commitment, I have even more doubts, and any course of action seems complicated.

I’m curious how you feel about it. We’ll talk more about it in the coming days and weeks.

If the storm ChatGPT is causing shows us one thing, it’s how unoriginal most of our thoughts are.

AI builds on a massive library of what others have learned before.

(Individual) humans build on a much smaller library of what others have learned before.

If we merely do what others have done before, in some fields, AI has caught up to us already.

What happens we build on what others have learned before, and combine it with what we learn ourselves (in other words, practice and skill building)?

Now we’re talking about innovation: we’re doing things that haven’t been done before.

And even then, one day, AI will possibly also innovate and do things that haven’t been done before.

Sheer “processing power” is not a game we can win.

The true question here:

If raw intelligence and “brain processing power” isn’t what makes us truly, uniquely human, then what is?

The path toward self-awareness isn’t always pleasant. 

Take yesterday, when I realized that in many cases, I’m more interested in the comfort of “wanting” something I don’t have than in “taking action to get something.”

That unappealing realization triggered a cascade of even more unappealing questions.

Would I rather mess around with small blog posts instead of becoming a skilled writer crafting coherent arguments?

Would I rather learn about a million different strategies to grow a newsletter instead of actually spreading the word and getting more people to read my newsletter?

Would I rather learn how to learn a language than actually learn a new language?

Is the frustration of unrealized potential also a huge source of comfort in my life?

I’m not sure if I should be happy with that realization. 

Maybe realizations aren’t even supposed to make me happy.

But even if they were, it doesn’t matter. 

Because look: here I am, writing another insight about it.

Another Tiny Trust Builder, proving that every day, I am one step closer to renouncing my citizenship of the United States of “If I wanted, I could.”

Another reminder to myself and you, my friend, one I’ll repeat until the bitter end: actions overrule thoughts.