Better Than "Just Do Something"

Not the best thing but maybe better than random

“If you’re stuck and don’t know what to do, just do something.”

I think this is good advice for those who struggle with perfectionism and/or analysis-paralysis, although some forget to caveat that this mostly applies for decisions that are both relatively low effort to execute and reversible. Otherwise, it contradicts another piece of advice the same people are likely to give you: “Selection is everything. Think carefully about what you spend your time on.”

Often when you’re stuck, a better cliche to follow than “just do something” is to double down on strengths. I didn’t use the framing of “double down on what’s working” because presumably if you’re stuck, things don’t seem to be working. If you’re at a low point, even the word “strengths” might fail to conjure up a long list.

Be that as it may, most of us have lived life. We’ve lived in certain places, done particular things, befriended particular people. That’s a good starting point.

The Framework

Say you’re trying to search for a job or think about how to acquire your next client as a solo entrepreneur.

Step 1: List down all the keywords you associate with yourself.

These could be places, people, skills, industries, other common nouns. Mine was something like: [Singapore, Finance, VC, Writing, Debate, Recruitment, MIT...]

Cities, universities, hobbies, businesses—anything I associate with myself or people associate with me

Step 2: Break them down using whatever dimension feels natural. Keep doing this.

In finance, maybe you worked in both Wealth Management and Venture Capital. In writing, maybe you did both poetry and long-form.

Step 3: When you’re done or when stuck, ask four questions:

1. Whom do I know? Who did I meet?

2. What do I know? What did I learn?

3. What have I done? What can I show?

4. What do I have?

These should capture every form of advantage: social capital, skills and knowledge, track record and credentials, money. Usually money is fungible, so I wouldn’t focus on it while breaking categories down.

Step 4: Order or think based on strength and quality.

Clients you have deep relationships with come before prospective clients. Close friends come before acquaintances. Skills you have come before skills you could be well-positioned to learn.

From Assets to Action

The last step is a bit harder to detail but I found that easier and more natural to do than getting the process started.

Take (a) an asset or a set of assets/advantages and (b) the thing you’re trying to unstuck yourself on and think with the intention of generating a next step.

The ideal way to translate assets to actions depends on your available mix of time vs money too.

Example 1:

• Goal: Looking for a job

• Asset: Former boss who thinks highly of you

• Thought: Maybe he can introduce me to people or vouch for me

• Action: Catch up for coffee (or just ask for introductions, depending on relationship)

Example 2:

• Goal: Go on dates

• Asset: Interest in ideas/politics/philosophy

• Thought: Where else can I meet similar people? Perhaps a discussion group

• Action: Search for discussion groups online

Note: Even though this worked for me, men are well-advised not to join philosophy discussion groups to meet women, due to the abysmal gender ratio in these meetups.

A Note on Process

I don’t know if this would work if treated as a regimented exercise focussed on finding the best option.

But it is a way to try to execute actions that are likely to generate some sort of feedback loop. For example, sending one email to someone who’s 100x more likely to reply is better than sending 100 carefully drafted cold emails.

This is really a way to avoid the quantity and measurement trap by introducing quality into the process.