“ Preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing. Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Fantasising about all of the adoration you'll receive once you do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading this essay isn't doing the thing. The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing. “ - Strangest Loop

A Verb is an Action Word

In grade school, I learned about nouns and verbs. A noun is a name of a person, animal, place or thing ( Lion, John, France, etc ). A verb is a word that describes an action ( run, walk, climb, keep, feel etc). 

“Being" is the present participle of the verb "to be,". Being is a verb because it describes the present, and the present is always moving.  The word “being” enables us to express the condition of things.

For a long time, I didn’t really pay attention to what all of this meant, I just knew that I would pass if I spit out these definitions in my English exams. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I met my first mentor that I found a deeper meaning to all of this, and it all revolves around the word “action”.

Actions Have Consequences

“ Anger begets anger. If you turn your bloodlust on someone, you had better expect them to turn their bloodlust back on you “ - Benimaru Shinmon, Fire Force

Action is the fact or process of doing something. Easy definition right? Everyone is doing something right now. In fact, to be alive is to act. Even if you aren’t doing anything, you are breathing, you’re blinking every few seconds, you move around and you eat. All of these count as actions. 

Newton's third law of motion roughly states that for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. This means that when one object pushes or pulls on another object, that second object pushes or pulls back with the same force in the opposite direction. For example, when you jump, you push down on the earth with a certain amount of force and in return the earth pushes you upward into the air.

The concept of Newton's third law of motion can be applied philosophically to every aspect of life. It showcases the idea that everything is interconnected and every action has a consequence. Newton's third law should encourage us to reflect on the impact of our choices and interactions with others. Every action has a consequence. Even the very act of existing, breathing, sleeping or eating will incur a consequence proportional to just how much existing, breathing, sleeping or eating you do.

A Quick Physics Lesson on Possibility

In 1935, the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger came up with a famous thought experiment known as “schrodinger's cat”. 

The experiment states that if you seal a cat in a box with a poison that can eventually kill it, you won’t know if the cat is alive or dead until you open the box. So, until you open the box and observe the cat, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive. Mathematically speaking, there’s a 50 percent chance the cat is dead and a 50 percent chance the cat is alive.
 

In quantum mechanics terms, the cat’s ability to be in this state of being both alive and dead until it’s observed (i.e. when someone opens the box) is referred to as the observer’s paradox. The observer's paradox basically states that the observer of an event affects its outcome. In Schrodinger's case, whoever is performing this hypothetical experiment can affect whether the cat remains in an unknown state or they can open the box and be 100% sure that the cat is dead or alive.

This experiment was designed to explain a mind-bending concept; that a quantum system exists in all of its possible states at the same time and only when we make an observation can we confirm the true state of the system. 

However, just like Newton's third law, the concept behind Schrodinger's thought experiment can be extended to other situations in life. The experiment ( and quantum physics ) basically tells us that until the future is here, every possible version of the future is still possible and up for grabs.

The Nature ( and Purpose ) of Aim

“Our eyes are always pointing at things we are interested in approaching, or investigating, or looking for, or having. We must see, but to see, we must aim, so we are always aiming” - Dr Jordan Peterson

Aim is also a verb. It means to focus, point, direct or target. Aim is intricately linked to desire, just as desire is linked to value. We aim at what we want to get, and we want to get what we value, it's that simple. Yet many of us have terrible aims, and many of us forget to even aim at all. 

The nature of our existence is such that we are always in motion. The moon orbits the earth and the earth orbits the sun. Our galaxy moves in a spiral away from other galaxies in our ever expanding universe. The present unfolds infinitely into the future. 

No matter how far we’ve come, there is always a next step. We are always simultaneously at point a, moving towards point b. We always encounter the world in a state of insufficiency and seek its correction even if we have everything we thought we needed. If we did not see the world this way, we wouldn’t act at all.

In a world where everything is possible, where all actions have consequences, you should be intentional about where you aim and what you do. Because regardless of whether or not you are intentional, you will always be in motion. Therefore, you should envision the person you want to become in all his glory, without limiting yourself or holding anything back. You should strive to pick the best possible version of the future that is out there and bring it into the present.

But how do you go about doing this practically?

Behavior: The Ultimate Expression of Being

A popular saying I’ve heard countless times is “nothing changes until you change”. For you to change, you have to change your behavior. You are the center of your universe so if you want to embody a new reality, you have to change the things you do. 

It’s a lot easier to do new things when you operationalize them. To operationalize something, explain it using actions or behaviors you can see with your eyes. For instance, let's say you want to be more charismatic. The dictionary defines charisma as “compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.” But how the fuck do you even become more “ compellingly attractive” or “ charming” ?

One way to look at the problem is to ask yourself the questions; “Who do I know that is charismatic?”, “What do they do?”, “ How do they behave?”. You might find that charismatic people often behave in peculiar ways like;

• Smiling when people walk in the room 

• Changing emphasis and tonality when speaking

• Remembering people’s names

• Asking people about themselves

• Nodding their head multiple times when they respond

• Keeping eye contact when they talk

• Addressing everyone in the room when they enter or exit a room

Instead of trying to “be more charismatic”, you could try to behave in any of the ways I outlined above, and people will begin to perceive you as charismatic.

The Verdict

Understand that every possible version of the future exists out there and that you have the power to pull it into the ever changing present. In order to change your future, you need to change the things you do. You need to take different actions than what you are already doing. You are a writer simply because you write. You are a teacher because you teach and you are honest because you tell the truth, in much the same way that you are a liar when you lie. 

Action is the name of the game. Being is a verb.

TL;DR

• Everything you do is an action

• Actions have consequences

• Everything is possible

• Because everything is possible, you have to be intentional about what you aim at

• You are what you do. Try to break things down into behaviors, not qualities

• Nothing changes in your life until you change your behaviors

PS: If you found this letter interesting, feel free to reply or forward to a friend  🫶