The distance between thought and action is smaller on the internet. The time between when you get an idea and the time you act on that very same idea is, usually, shorter than you'd imagine. Whether you get the impulse to look something up on Wikipedia, write a couple of words of appreciation to someone you like or whatever - the time it takes for you to think it and the time it takes for you to do it is short, shorter, shortest.
The reason for this is that you really don't have to do anything to get from the thinking to the doing. The transition from sitting in front of the computer to sitting in front of the computer is, as you might imagine, not a rough one.
My two latest posts were written more or less on the fly - both were written as responses to tweets from different people, just for the sheer fun of it. The distance between thought and post for the first one was twelve minutes, and the second one is on its way to become an impromptu piece of distributed text, en route to various places where the winds of serendipity might find it.
Just because it's just long enough to fit twice on a piece of paper. And because I happen to know places where people go to be found.
When I explain this mode of doing things, some people react with skepticism. Isn't it a tad bit impulsive, isn't this to rush things, won't there be mistakes along the way?
Yes, yes and yes.
But things will get done. Posts will be written, thoughts will be shared, new experiences will be had and - I dare say - many of my fondest memories comes from the act motivated by "let's just do it, for the fun of it".
I have many such memories. I have even more from times where I waited for a train that would not come, and missed out because I overestimated the distance between thought and action.
History doesn't wait for you to ask permission. Neither should you.
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