Doing <-> Thinking
May 11, 2020•208 words
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I just finished preparing a talk on minimalism and living an intentional life. In it, I will be talking about why is it important to define your values before taking action. Thinking before doing.
And that is the approach we should have 90% of time in life. Thinking, analyzing, theorizing before doing. Being intentional & living a conscious life. It's better to spend a bit more time before doing something and thinking through the effects it might have, than being kicked in the butt later.
It got me thinking: when is the reverse accurate? When should be do before thinking? Are there even any situations where this should apply?
I'm slowly starting to realize that there is some value in impulsiveness, thoughtless action. For example, creativity stems from this order; we wouldn't be able so fearlessly if we we're trying to analyze every action beforehand. We wouldn't be able to "spark joy", right?
Yesterday, I wrote about a pretty similar idea: acting when there's no time for caution. This doing<->thinking dilemma is quite similar.
This is, for me, true balance. Knowing both sides of the coin and staying in the middle most of the time, but not being scared to drift to either side for a while.