Ness Labs had a good article that circles many of the topics I've been thinking about lately.
Technically, I can do almost anything. Practically, I’ve noticed a worrying shift: I keep starting new things and finishing very few. It feels like being surrounded by infinite drafts.
This easily leads to the thought that you should start every idea that you have. But there is a cognitive cost to all the ideas floating out there partially done. GTD called this open loops and encouraged you to collect them all. Not start them collect them.
One of the most useful things I do is to note an idea and then note that I'm not going to do it because I have other things to do. I record it and then take no action on it.
We tend to think more capability automatically leads to more progress, so that sounds great in theory. But what I’m noticing is that when the cost of taking action approaches zero, a strange dynamic seems to appear.
I wrote about this recently when I said that constraints are the antidote to hustle culture. Not only can you start anything, you can have pretty much anything in short order. Even in the middle of northern British Columbia I can order stuff online and have it in a few days. It's about activation energy again, and there is little when I get free shipping and delivered to my doorstep in short order.
First, when starting something no longer requires much sacrifice, it stops functioning as a decision.
My note process is slow and harder on purpose as a way to generate sacrifice and thus purpose to my actions.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something.