10 Ways to Begin Doing Something

1. Read a Wikipedia page for inspiration

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Look around you and find an object of interest, and type it into Wikipedia. From there you may fall into a rabbit hole of things, some of which you may wish to do.

2. Create a list of pros and cons

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If you have an idea of something you might do, but aren’t sure if it’s worth it, making a pros and cons list can help. You may have even done that before reading this article, at which which point I would assume that “doing something” fell under the “pro” column. Even if you don’t believe it, imagining success is still doing something!

 3. Stop standing where you are and move elsewhere

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You can’t start something if you’ve already begun it previously. If you’re like to do something, first you have to arrive.

4. Ask for advice

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One common greeting is a riff on “what’s going on?” Usually we say these pleasantries merely because we are trying to get past a conversation and onto the canapé tray as fast as possible, but emulating what other people are doing is a very quick way into doing something yourself.

5. Keep a dream journal

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You may not have something you want to do, but that could merely be a block in your conscious mind. While dreaming you may find a whole new world of things to do, from skydiving to transmogrifying into a tooth. A dream journal can help you list out potential things to begin while you’re awake.

6. Go outside and prepare for the thing you might end up beginning

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We often forget just how limiting our houses can be to doing things. For many activities you may wish to pursue, you have to enter the world at large.

7. Surf the internet until something catches your eye

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The fact that surfing the internet is starting something notwithstanding, cavorting through the information highway can be a great method to beginning doing something. Not to get too personal, but for example, I recently found myself making a quiche through exactly this method.

8. Create a checklist

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It can be of anything, really, but by design making a checklist requires that you do something to finish it.

9. Read a book and then think about what you thought of it

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This is a little specific but nonetheless I recommend it!

10. Wake up

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Sleeping is a thing to do that’s essential for all of us, but if you were to sleep forever you’d not only miss everything else, you’d by definition never start doing something ever again. This is the gift you get every time you awake! Don’t forget it!