They say every journey starts with a single step, and that’s true.
But what’s often missed is the decision to take that step in the first place.
The world is full of unfulfilled dreams. That seems depressing, but it’s because dreaming is easy. Execution is hard.
Talk is Cheap. Execution Costs.
My niece was dating this guy, just started college.
All full of piss and vinegar—”I’m going to make more money than you,” “Wait till I do it.”
The only response I had was, “Man, I hope you do. But do something for me—shut the fuck up about it and actually do it.”
“I’m not trying to be mean, but those dreams come real easy. Bringing them to life is really hard. So show me.”
This wasn’t a knock. You see this in people all the time—bragging about what they’re going to do, and that’s as far as it goes.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but a good rule of thumb is: don’t spend money you don’t have in the bank yet.
Even I Slipped
Even when I was writing the book—I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it.
Only my wife knew, and that was just so she wouldn’t think I’d lost my mind coming to bed at 3 or 4 a.m.
I didn’t say a word to friends until I hit the final edits.
I wasn’t interested in talking about it. I just wanted to finish the damn thing.
Death by Meeting
I came up with an idea at work one time for a system.
Once I told my boss, she explained it to senior management, and they greenlit it.
I spent the next six months in meetings explaining what we were going to do and how the plant would benefit from it.
In that six months, all the time I had set aside for coding was eaten up by presentations.
Then one meeting, someone finally asked the obvious question: “So when is it going to be done?”
“Well, it depends. When are you going to make me stop telling you how great it’s going to be and actually let me sit down and write it?”
The excitement was there—but no one had realized I needed time to do the thing, not just talk about it.
The Hard Part
The point is, execution is hard—and talking about your plans is fine. Just don’t let talk be the thing you’re best at.
First post. More coming. When you’re ready to stop talking and start doing—read on.