I'll think of a title later

The answers seem pretty obvious to me, but it would be very funny if the collective opinion of the internet decided that I was delusional.
On a side note, the best thing about hosting your own blog is the ability to do fun things like these. I urge you to do it too, rather than make another substack, it's very fun.

So, to want, or to need. One could argue that since life is inevitable, wanting to do it expresses a stronger commitment, a desire to live, beyond being forced to. And seeing as winning isn't, to need it implies a motive, a story.
I actually don't know how to elaborate any more on that thought, or at least not towards some grand moral. This thought experiment came to me as I was procrastinating, which is going to be the topic of this post.

Chapter title :

How efficient are the words we use to think, in converting said thoughts into actions? Only talking about thoughts directly intending to achieve some sort of action.

"I want to do something", is the thought that would bounce around in my head, before I proceed to not do it for 3 weeks straight. Would it have been better if I thought instead : "I need to do the thing"? I feel it's largely irrelevant, you probably think so too. But then, what's my problem? Why am I not doing the thing that I want, or need to do, even though I am avidly thinking about doing it?

Maybe we can start enumerating some relevant variables involved in the endeavor of doing the thing :

𝐸 (Effort) : The amount of energy required to do the thing.

𝑡 (Time) : The amount of time needed to complete said thing.

𝐽 (Deadline) : Does it have a deadline in time, at which it expires if undone?

𝑅 (Reward) : Is there a reward for completing the thing? And/or alternatively any punishment warranted for not doing it?

𝐼 (Really) : Don't think any of these mental gymnastics will ever help.

Any self-respecting procrastinator knows that no amount of mathematical quantification or logical rationalization, will ever make me fold the mound of clothes on my bed, up until the day I noticed : "Holy shit, are these the shirts I took out of the closet 3 months ago packing for my trip?" I folded everything right there and then.

Folding clothes back into my closet is easy though. It's inconsequential, I "eventually" need to do it. I (clearly) don't WANT to do it, which is probably the reason it's been put off for so long, but I seldom feel bad or think about it.

Tim Urban's post & Ted talk about this same topic, do a good job at drawing a picture of procrastinating over the things we need to do. We usually just monkey around and put off doing them until the "panic monster" shows up. I know most of us are very familiar with this workflow, and I honestly think it's very normal, if not borderline healthy. Just as long as the thing we NEED to do eventually gets done.
If not, then you didn't really NEED to do it, at least according to yourself. And thus, the beatings (consequences of your actions) will continue until you start doing the needful.

Again, as long as things eventually get done, bathrooms are clean, closets are tidy, economies prosper. What most of us really dread when we talk about procrastination, are probably the things that never get done. Things we need to do but just can't get ourselves to, or, worse, things we actually want to do. The "panic monster" is too convenient of a concept to bet on. I would pay good money for someone to hold a gun to my head and force me to complete things within optimally calculated deadlines based on my expected performance, working at a reasonable pace, with multiple milestones, and possibly aiming at my foot first.

But the panic monster isn't real, hell even life altering deadlines might not move some of us, making this panic-less procrastination an indefinite fate. The panic monster won't come, and it's just you left. Picking myself as the prime example, I promise you that I have procrastinated on giving myself the life I deserve for almost half of it.

So, what changed? Did I "suddenly" decide to start making my proverbial bed and get my sheets together? I don't actually think I did anything. And I know this train of thought is converging towards giving you the age old pointless advice of "Just do it", but maybe my visualization of how I think it works might help.

See, we all "do" things. Each one of us is a single process, with a single task active at all times.

Now, picture the following :

Your tasks don't have thoughts, your thoughts don't have thoughts either. Plans, processes, order, regrets, guilt... Separate all of that, from whatever you're currently doing, be it nothing even, and what are you? You're someone, doing some things, sometimes.

Of course this "detachment" is unrealistic, we're no task robots.

But at least, with this in mind, the only reason you're not doing something you think you want to do, or need to do right now, is really just because you're currently doing something else.
Is there a way to make ourselves pick doing this thing instead of the other thing?
Probably, but you won't read about it here. Different strokes for different folks yes, but if you get too absorbed in coming up with a solution or answer to that question, remember that ultimately every calorie spent thinking, planning, preparing, is a calorie spent not doing the thing.

So.. yes. Just do it. I know once I decided to do things, I didn't really need much of a push to keep doing them. I don't feel too bad when I spend a week drowning in foam and sorrow, at least not about the things undone, because I internalized by now that none of that will affect my decision to do things, whenever I'll decide to do them.

I love you anon. The thought of so many people doing so many things fills me with joy. Doing things is something so indiscriminate, so attainable and accessible to every one of us. It does not matter how many things you've done before, or how many things you didn't do, the thing you're going to do next will always be there, eagerly waiting to be done.

You can do it!