I had no dreams once too. I was afraid to speak up. I chose to be oppressed. Comfort was the only option.
I hate to see people live small. What is small? Not doing work you enjoy. Not falling in love with your version of art. Not living with tremendous passion. Not having the energy to wake up sleeping giants.
Telling yourself lies is not the answer.
While sitting in the sun by the window of my student apartment today, these words entered my brain: Say nothing. Do Nothing. Be Nothing.
Say nothing.
Be quiet. Don’t wake anybody. Do what you’re told. Let your dreams rot. Don’t speak out of turn. Don’t talk about the subjects that matter to you. Let the company you work for censor your voice. Let your fear of being judged block you from saying something… anything.
Talk quietly to yourself so no one can hear. Don’t dare believe your thoughts have value.
Do nothing.
Put your brain into a Netflix coma.
Numb your emotions with food. Don’t take that one tiny action. Forget about where tiny decisions might lead. When someone says you can’t do something, believe them. Pin your dreams on the wall and tell yourself, “maybe later.”
Be succumbed by meaningless BS you don’t care about. Chase the money dreams to hell. Save up for that 4WD you know deep down you don’t need. Mow your lawn so your neighbor thinks you got your shit together.
Get home from work. Do more of nothing than you did at work. Be the perfect little example of inaction. Make action your distant cousin; tell them to bugger off when you feel tired. Don’t you dare do what is hard. Do nothing.
Tell people you are going to do stuff and then never do it like everybody else. Your word doesn’t mean anything. Promise the world everything and deliver nothing, by doing nothing.
Be nothing.
If you say nothing and do nothing then you will be nothing because that’s what you asked for. People who do something, who become somebody you’d hope to be, don’t do nothing and say nothing. These somebodies have a two-step action plan that goes like this:
Step 1: Say something.
Step 2: Do something
Result: Become somebody.
How to Become Somebody You’ll Look Back and Be Proud Of.
Do the tiny things first. The things you use to dismiss as insignificant.
Go for a walk and clear your thoughts. Publish that silly little social media post you don’t think anybody will read. Ask that guy/girl out that makes you feel like you’re going to poop your pants and stink out the office.
Grandiose is overrated. Grandiose takes too much effort; you need too much momentum to ever get started, so you probably won’t. Writing a book is one such pursuit. Starting a business is another. They are such monumental feats, that very few people do them.
I’m giving you permission to start small.
Write the blog post, not the book.
Ask one girl out rather than join a dating app with thousands of rejections.
Work 4 days a week instead of quit your job and start a business.
Make $20 passive income first instead of $100,000 in your first month.
Have 10 fans instead of 24,000,000.
You become somebody you’ll be proud of when you make life easier on yourself. You have to speak up for what you want, though. You’ve got to learn to become unreasonable enough to ask total strangers for favors, intros, free stuff, or opportunities.
The world won’t give you what you want unless you ask for it — and follow up.
Asking once gets you nowhere.
You’ll be proud of yourself when you take action. When you take action when you don’t feel like it. When you design your life around a process that is supercharged by the power of flow states. A beginner process will get you further than a plan that takes your whole life to write (and never complete).
Toss away your plans. Speak up for yourself. Let your voice say what it wants to say, regardless of whether you offend those who probably need to be offended more often. Let your beliefs shine bright. Stand for something.
You don’t need to settle for second best by saying nothing and doing nothing out of fear or frustration. To be nothing is disappointing, especially when you have unlimited potential to play with.
You can become somebody when you decide with a tiny action. An action so small that nobody notices it except you.
