Where The Magic Happens
I’ve spent my life watching people talk themselves out of greatness. Smart, capable, ambitious individuals who, when faced with opportunity, retreat into the safe cocoon of hesitation. They believe they need more time, more credentials, more validation. And in the process of waiting for the perfect moment, they miss the only moment that ever really matters — now.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the 18th-century poet-philosopher who probably never had to refresh his LinkedIn feed every 30 seconds, put it best: “Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.”
We romanticize the thinkers. The masterminds. The strategic planners. And yes, thinking is important — no one wants a leader who wakes up and makes major life decisions based on a horoscope. But the real difference between those who win and those who watch is action. Nike nailed it years ago: Just. Do. It.
The Magic of Starting
Starting is the most underrated competitive advantage in the universe. The mere act of taking the first step — before you’re ready, before it’s perfect — separates the doers from the dreamers. Most people are waiting for a green light that will never come. The timing will never be perfect, the economy will never be stable enough, and you will never feel 100% prepared. But the second you take action, something shifts.
Momentum kicks in. You go from ideation to execution, from theory to practice. And once you start moving, you find that opportunities and ideas begin appearing where they didn’t before. Call it luck, call it serendipity, call it the universe rewarding initiative — it doesn’t matter. Action creates its own energy. The world bends toward people who move.
Grace in the Chaos
There’s an art to moving forward without having all the answers. Most people are paralyzed by fear of failure or embarrassment. But action — raw, unfiltered, let’s-see-what-happens action — teaches you what works and what doesn’t in real time. It’s evolution at high speed. You refine, you adjust, you course-correct on the fly.
The people you admire? The founders, the innovators, the legends? They aren’t necessarily the smartest people in the room (though they’d love for you to think so). They are the ones who decided to start while everyone else was still debating pros and cons. They embraced the grace of imperfection. They understood that nothing attracts talent, investors, and customers like momentum. Nobody wants to get on a train that’s still in the station.
Power is in the Doing
The world rewards people who do things. That’s the reality. We can pretend that meritocracy alone determines success, but the truth is, the people who act create their own merit. They get noticed, they build credibility, they attract the resources needed to sustain their momentum.
Look at any industry — tech, entertainment, finance, athletics — and you’ll see that execution outweighs potential every time. The promising young executive who never pulls the trigger will always be outrun by the less experienced but more aggressive doer. The brilliant writer who never finishes a manuscript will always be outshined by the less talented one who publishes. The entrepreneur with an airtight business plan but no product will be left behind by the scrappier, messier startup that actually launches.
Ideas are free. Execution is rare.
The Fear Tax
Let’s talk about the real cost of hesitation: the fear tax. Every time you delay action because you’re waiting for certainty, you’re paying a tax in lost time, lost opportunities, and lost learning. Fear convinces you that you’re being cautious and responsible when, in reality, you’re just sitting on your hands while the people willing to risk looking stupid lap you.
This is particularly insidious in careers. How many people do you know who are miserable in their jobs, who spend years telling themselves they’ll make a change “when the time is right”? Here’s the truth: There is no right time. There’s only now and later. And later often turns into never.
The irony? Taking action is the best way to mitigate fear. Once you start, fear dissipates. You realize that the worst-case scenario you built up in your head is often laughably off-base. You learn by doing, and that learning is what actually gives you confidence — not more research, not another certification, not another three months of overthinking.
Burn the Boats
The ancient story of Hernán Cortés ordering his men to burn their ships upon arriving in the New World is a brutal but effective metaphor. When you remove the option of retreat, action becomes the only path forward. Too many people keep one foot in the safety of inaction, telling themselves they’ll start when they have a backup plan, when they have a safety net, when they feel less vulnerable.
Screw that. Burn the boats. Commit. The worst that can happen? You fail and have to try again. Newsflash: No one’s keeping score as closely as you think they are. People are too busy worrying about their own lives to spend time tracking your missteps.
Start Now. No, Seriously — Now.
Want to write a book? Write the first 500 words today. Want to start a company? Draft the business model in the next 24 hours. Want to pivot careers? Send out three cold emails this afternoon.
Don’t overthink it. Just start. Take the smallest possible action toward your goal today. Because if you don’t, I can almost guarantee that a year from now, you’ll be in the exact same place, wondering why nothing has changed.
That’s the magic, grace, and power of action. It’s the one thing separating you from the people you admire. It’s the antidote to fear, the multiplier of opportunity, and the clearest signal to the world that you’re serious.
So, whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. The only thing worse than failing is never starting at all.
Hi, I’m Brian Fink, the author of Talk Tech To Me. If you like how I write, pick up your copy today!
