you are what you spend your time on
I always told myself I will do things at a certain idealized moment. I will start a blog a when I become a better writer. I will post my art publicly when I become a better artist. I will become more productive when I finish reading my third self-help book of the month.
I ceaselessly dreamed of the person I wanted to become, instead of actually becoming.
The act of dreaming, the initial surge of overwhelming motivation, gives us the false sense of achievement that we got somewhere. I am thinking about it, so I am making progress, right? We plan out every detail in our heads, but in reality we haven't done anything to actuate our dreams into reality. We haven't done any of the work.
No imagining and planning out every nook and cranny of a dream means anything if you aren't actually putting in the hard work. A false sense of achievement does not equate an achievement.
This is not to say dreaming is bad by any means. It is quite the opposite actually. Dream big, but make those dreams happen, because the things you spend your finite time on doing define who you are. In other words, you are what you spend your time on.
If you spend your time doomscrolling on TikTok for that instant gratification, that is what you are. If you start allocating an hour a day to finally write out the novel you have been putting off for the past three years, that is what you are. You choose.
Logging into social media and doomscrolling is easy. Planning is easy. Doing the work is hard. It is where most people will be intimidated and stop. Starting now and creating something that is flawed or ostensibly bad will already put you ahead of most people. You can't put your life on hold for that perfect, idealized moment in an undefined future.
If you wait until you feel ready. you will end up waiting all your life. To wait for an idealized moment is to wait forever.
There are no ideal scenarios. There is only the present, occurring with every inhale and exhale. Start now. Become now.