Do The Thing
How small actions lead to big changes, and why you can’t ‘accidentally’ crush it in life
“But I don’t know if I can do it” I sulked, taking an exaggerated gulp of beer from the glass in front of me. This, alongside logistical worries and other general fears about my ability to traverse Europe by bike, was one of the many excuses that fell from my mouth whilst contemplating whether or not to sign up for North Cape 4000 back in November last year. Excuses that, if I’d let them take hold, could have punctured what ultimately became the adventure-of-a-lifetime
Or similarly, back in 2021 when I decided that I wanted to compete in my first triathlon - a wildly ambitious notion given that I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was fourteen and didn’t even know how to swim. If i’d have simply turned my back on the idea due to my lack of experience, I wouldn’t have ever fallen in love with cycling, nor would I get to call the wonderful bunch of humans at London Fields Triathlon Club life-long friends.
The truth is, all the practical stuff - the swimming lessons, the bike fits, the wetsuit, the Garmin, the gels, the Komoot subscription - came later. What mattered most in those moments wasn’t having everything figured out. It was simply committing to do the thing.
It may sound like the most obvious thing in the world, but life doesn’t just happen to us: we make it happen. Everything we choose to do today will have an impact on tomorrow, and ultimately, the rest of our lives.
This is something I’ve always believed so astutely, and is perhaps part of the reason I find myself taking on such big challenges (and all their accompanying risk). This time of year especially is one where we tend to look back at where we’ve come from, and look forward to where we’d like to be.
We ask ourselves: what does the future look like? When December 2025 rolls around, what do we want to have achieved, and most importantly, who do we want to be?
“Just sign up” came the response from Sean. “It doesn’t mean that you have to actually show up at the start line, it just means that you’re taking the first step”. I nodded silently, the cogs slowly turning in my brain as I mulled over his words. “At least give yourself the opportunity to try” he continued “and then if you decide later that you don’t want to do it, all you’ve lost is the cost of the entry fee - which is nothing compared to the regret I know you’d feel if you let this chance pass you by”.
He was right, of course. The act of signing up to the event didn’t mean I had to follow-through. It was just one step (of many) that I would need to take in order to eventually reach the start-line. But for some reason committing to do the thing felt like I was committing to all the stuff that came afterwards too.
This is where I think we often fall short, convincing ourselves that we need to see the entire journey mapped out before we can even begin. Believing that every turn must be planned and plotted, and every outcome accounted for, so we can travel along some neat, predictable route to our destination. But, as anyone who’s ever planned a route on Komoot knows all too well, things don’t always go to plan. Sometimes it throws in an unexpected bridleway, a track that wouldn’t be out of place on a TCR parcour, or - if you’re really lucky - a complete dead end. And hell, sometimes planning things too meticulously means that we miss out on all the spontaneity and side-quests that present themselves along the way.
Instead, all we need to do is take is the first step. That one thing that moves us an inch in the right direction. It could be something as simple as sending an email, registering for a course, or buying that domain name. What you don’t necessarily need to know is what happens next. That’s the beauty of steps, you have to take them in order. You have to place one foot down so you can assess where to go next.
“It sounds great, but I know how much you struggled on All Points North.” My heart sank. It wasn’t the super encouraging response I’d been hoping for. My dad had always been my biggest cheerleader and most long-standing fan; believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. “You can do anything” he’d often say, so why couldn't I do this? “Do you really think you’re ready?” His question hung in the air whilst every insecurity flashed to the surface - probably not.
A few more silent breaths as the cogs continued to turn. Then, a rare moment of self-belief: “Will I ever really be ready to cycle 4,000km?”
We’re obsessed with waiting to be ready. Waiting to be ready to quit our jobs, waiting to be ready to get married, waiting to be ready to have children. But I bet that everyone who has ever gone through those life-changing milestones will tell you the exact same thing: you’re never really ready. You just make the decision to do the thing, and figure the rest out as you go.
And that’s the secret, isn’t it? Readiness is a myth, a comforting illusion we cling to because it makes the unknown feel safer. But life doesn’t reward waiting - it rewards doing. Every big, scary leap we take, whether it’s cycling 4,000 kilometres or starting a family, begins with the decision to trust that we’ll find our way. The truth is, growth doesn’t happen when we feel ready - it happens when we’re forced to rise to the challenge.
Everyone’s heard the well-known adage: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Which brings me nicely to my final point: the steps you take now, matter.
So as we sink one-too-many glasses of sherry and scribble down our resolutions for 2025, we need to face a hard truth - if we go into this year simply retracing our footsteps from last year, we can’t expect to be in a radically different place when it’s over.
This moment - right now - is our opportunity to change the course of our future. If we don’t start taking those small, intentional steps toward something different today, we’ll be staring back at another year of could have been’s. We can’t afford to wait for that magical moment of readiness; the time is now.
Make one small change today, and you’ll ignite a chain of events that will slowly but surely alter the course of your year. It doesn’t take much - just take that first step - and soon, you’ll be headed toward a future you never imagined.
So stop overthinking, stop waiting for the perfect moment, stop waiting to be ready, and just do the thing.
P.S if you’ve enjoyed my writing so far and think others might quite like it too, it would mean the world to me if you could spread the word 💜