There’s a saying in philosophy—thought proceeds action. It’s another way of saying that philosophy underlies everything. That governments, religions, marriages…they’re all supported by a philosophy of some type.
But I’d like to promote a reverse thought—put action before thought. When you wake up tomorrow, do 27 things. Don’t stand on the edge of your bed, contemplating epistemology or the end of the universe. Instead, get moving! Take a shower, send out emails, throw out the garbage. In short, get to work.
The more you ponder what to do, the less inspired you’ll be. It’s called paralysis through analysis. Reflection is for the evening, when you’re wandering the streets of your city. Then you can reminisce on the day. What worked? What didn’t? What do you need to adjust?
At the end of the day, pull put a piece of paper and write. Decide what you’ll improve on for tomorrow. Make a list and be brutally honest—if you lie to yourself, then you can’t expect anyone else to believe you. And when you wake up the next day, get back to work.
Put action before thought.
Major Styles 
This is a good point. Especially for anybody who is trying to achieve a goal.
For example, me and my friends are trying to start a blog: half of the time during our meetings we spend just daydreaming about how successful we are going to be… sure it’s fun to imagine all the success, but man, their is a shit load of work that we put off by living in these conversational fantasies. In truth, as I gather more time underneath my years, i’m 22, I coming to learn that the best teacher is trying something, failing and then re-adjusting accordingly.
I hope I got your point. Also, how’d you come up with 27?
27 is a random number that I settled on for some reason. I never quite get there. But by the time I’m halfway there (15 or so), I’m already up and moving – into my daily hustle. So the number serves the purpose of getting me up off my ass.
So whatever we can do to move forward…that’s the idea, really. I use a number, but some people might use a quote, phrase, etc.
By the way, thank for taking the time to comment on the blog! It’s a labor of love…
Of course, your work is solid. I read your piece on Socrates as well, I thought the idea that we should be more critical on the humanity that existed within historical figures was a good point. It reminded me of Ryan Holiday’s book Ego is The Enemy. He talks about how we love to romanticize legends, but, we rarely tell the true gritty story behind the ‘legend’ if you will.
Thank you, Doug. I appreciate the thumbs up!
I will have to check out that book – I am always looking to add to my reading lest.