This article is about writing fiction but there is a very specific point here that stuck out to me as a business owner and coder.

Your problem is that, well, you’re reading a fucking list of writing tips instead of actually writing. We talked about this. That’s your issue, genius. – Matt Gemmell

How much time today did you spend reading about doing something instead of actually doing it?

Why did you spend that time reading instead of doing?

Fear

My most persistent reason is that I’m afraid of whatever I’m going to do. Be it email a client about something they may not like (99% of the time they are fine once you have actually communicated the lack of communication is the real problem) or deciding to launch a product that I could ‘tweak’ some more I’m simply afraid of putting myself out there.

Why don’t you have a Github profile yet with some real personal projects on it? Why aren’t you blogging? Why aren’t you putting designs out there for critique on Dribbble?

Why are you reading this instead of doing those things?

Reading blog posts about stuff we want to do quickly turns from proper research in to ’email’ in that it feels like it’s productive. We can push so many articles around in our Instapaper queue and our feed reader that it feels like we got so much done.

Don’t lie to yourself. It’s not productive and you’d learn so much more by doing it yourself instead of just reading about how others are doing it. Yes there is something to be said about learning from others mistakes so you don’t repeat them.

There is way more to be said about doing it yourself instead of just reading about it.

You don’t need to read my site daily. Go produce something tomorrow instead and then tell me about it.

photo credit: fiddle oak via photopin cc