Don’t Talk About Doing Something Interesting — Just Do It
I get hot and bothered when I find travel blogs that are written months or even years before any kind of travel takes place, like it’s a “preliminary plan” blog. This is especially true for the “I’m going to quit my job and travel the world for a long time” variety.
I’m bothered by these kinds of blogs because I already know that this person is likely never going to go on their trip, or actually do what they want to do.
Just Do What You Want To Do, Don’t Tell Everyone About It
If you want to do something cool or significant with your life, here’s the trick: just fucking do it.
If you start telling everyone about your plans months or years ahead of time, you’re just pandering for attention. “Look at me, I’m going to do something cool with my life… when the right time comes.”
People who make plans far, far in advance typically never find the “right time.” They never actually have enough money, or they never have the free time, or they never get rid of their annoying, time-consuming children. The excuses pile up fast.
But the interesting thing is that if you don’t wait for a right time, but rather just do what you want to do, somehow everything works out just fine, every single time. The money, the responsibilities, the pregnant girlfriend… somehow they all end up not mattering. (Solution: take the pregnant girlfriend with you!)
So if you want to do something interesting with your life — like quit your job and travel the world — just do it now. Force yourself to get started. And don’t waste my time by putting up a blog about something you may do two years from now. It’s really annoying.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:22 pm
What if one wants to start getting traffic to a site to make money while traveling? What if one cannot just leave right now because my house is on the market and has not sold yet? Haha, I agree with you though…great shit on your blog…it makes me laugh
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
You’re actually taking steps to prepare yourself then. That’s awesome and well beyond most people, who just talk and don’t do much else.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Clay while I completely agree with you and even a wrote a blog post on this myself, I have a question.
What about saying you’re going to do something publicly in order to hold yourself to it?
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:07 pm
You guys crack my shit up! Both your blogs are hilarious! I hope you guys are both still in S. America or are traveling somewhere abroad in 10 months…haha
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Ummm, what if you are planning because in 2 years you have a guaranteed income stream that starts(modest income)?
Ok, that’s me, but I promise I won’t blog about it.
When that 2 years come, I’ll grab everything I’ve learned from you two and just do it!
April 7th, 2009 at 8:37 am
You are so right about that! I’ve done some travelling & friends just say how cool that is & that they also will do that….soon.
They haven’t done it yet & I’ll bet, that they never will. Othersites, I think it’s okay to talk with some really good friends about your travel destination dreams. For example, I would like to go to…. no! I won’t tell you guys that! 
But it looks like we are on a similar travel level. I’ve started a website, where travellers can help each other with travel tips. I always got the best tips from other travellers or locals. I thought, why don’t to share them with a bunch of people who are about as travel crazy like you. Perhaps you like the idea to help other travellers, than just have a look at http://www.traveldudes.org
Stay cool & travel on – I’m looking forward to new articles here!
July 28th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
So.. you didn’t tell anyone months in advance that you were going to launch a boring and useless blog. You just did it. I get the idea. Nice!
July 28th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
At least SOMEONE understood why I put this post up. Thanks, Wally!
January 11th, 2010 at 4:17 am
Ahh… the element of surprise. I didn’t tell my girl I was going to cum. I just did it. Now she has to take care of my kids. hahaha gotcha bitch!