You don’t need to add items like “play video games” to your to-do list. You do them. Because you want to do them.
But there are those other things. Things that have been on your to-do list for years that you just haven’t gotten around to yet. You never make time for them. But one of these days, you will. You’ll learn to play that dusty guitar in the basement. You’ll write your screenplay, your novel, your cookbook. You’ll get your Master’s degree. You’ll train for a marathon. You’ll remodel the kitchen.
Bullshit.
If you keep telling yourself you want to do something but never actually do it, at some point you have to stop, look at your actual behavior, and ask yourself whether you really want that thing.
Maybe you want to want it. Maybe you really do want it but don’t have any idea how to get there. (Make a plan, then. Start asking questions, like “what’s holding me back?”) Maybe you’re afraid of failure. Or afraid of success.
Whatever the case, the psychic cost of long-term inaction is not small. There’s a tiny feeling of failure every time you think about it. That adds up.
Consider letting go. Admit it: This distant thing is not a real goal. You haven’t made progress toward it, you’ve taken no action, and you have no intention of taking action any time soon.
How would that feel?
