You can just do things
This is the only way forward in life
“You can just do things.”
I stumbled across this line on LinkedIn the other day, and it hit hard—because that’s exactly how I feel things should be done.
When you're in the early stages of figuring out what you want next, things rarely make sense. There's no clear path, no obvious next step. But if you simply start testing and trying new ideas, pulling inspiration from others, eventually you'll stumble upon exactly what you need.
Too often we get stuck waiting, convinced that the perfect next step will suddenly appear. More often than not, that's just not how it works. The truth is, your next step finds you while you're moving—while you're actively doing things, exploring possibilities, and testing new waters.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
— Mark Twain
Think of it like walking on a path through the forest: you can see just a few steps ahead, but never the entire route. By walking forward, taking small steps, the rest of the path gradually becomes clear. Rumi expressed this perfectly when he said:
“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.”
When I first left college, I had no clue what I wanted next. The vision of my future didn't become clear until I became comfortable trying new things—and more importantly, comfortable failing at them.
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
— Vincent Van Gogh
I vividly remember waking up ridiculously early, running on just six hours of sleep, driven purely by the excitement of having time to work on my projects. Those early projects didn't find massive success, but they taught me invaluable lessons. They showed me what to pursue, what to leave behind, and gave me the clarity to recognize my next step.
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
— Steve Jobs
So I write this today as a reminder—and hopefully as permission—for you to try something new. If you don't know what you enjoy, you'll never find out by staying put. If you're unsure whether something will work, there's only one real way to find out.
Give yourself permission to try.
If this resonated with you (or didn’t) I’d love to hear from you.
Leave a comment - I reply to each one.
Thanks,
Isaac