Transform Your Life by Overriding Inaction with TAN
(2 Min Read) "Why 'How' is Holding You Back and How 'Now' Can Set You Free"
(tl;dr) Our default mental state for every task is inaction. TAN (taking action now) is the best way to override this default.
Wouldn't it be great if we took more action? Imagine finishing the blog post you want to write, the side project you want to build, the room you want to clean, the instrument you want to practice, or the exercise you want to complete. The world would be so different if we took all the actions we wanted to take.
But we need to take more action. Why? Because our default mental state for any task is "how." And "how" leads us down the path of making a plan. Suppose we can change our default state for all tasks to "now" from "how"; magic happens.
Here are some examples of how to apply this to tasks:
Writing a blog post:
"How" state: Think of a topic, do research, write the first draft, etc. Only sometimes write the post.
"Now" state: Write the post title and tl;dr in the next 2 minutes.
Cleaning a room:
"How" state: Where to start? Should I wipe it down, is the vacuum cleaner charged? The room never gets clean.
"Now" state: Pick up whatever is in sight first, and repeat for 2 minutes.
Building a side project:
"How" state: What to build, which stack to use, how to get an MVP, etc. The project never gets built.
"Now" state: Create a "hello world" file for the project and finish the initial setup in the next 2 minutes.
Exercise:
"How" state: When can I go to the gym, change clothes, what exercise should I do? The result is skipping the exercise altogether.
"Now" state: Do ten pushups, ten pull-ups, and ten squats right now.
The good news is that we already know the "now" action we can execute for nearly all tasks we want to take action on.
I acknowledge that a few things won't have an obvious "now" action, and that's okay. We can take our time with those. But the other 99% of tasks can and should happen now.
One significant aspect of getting into a "now" state is that, over time, it becomes the default state. And once you achieve that, it's hard to stop."