Note To Self: Make It Happen Already

by Kevin Burton

   Sometime in the 90s when I worked at a photo lab, a co-worker asked me a question;.

   “If you could do anything you wanted to do, what would it be?”

   My answerer was something about spreading the gospel.

   “What’s stopping you?” He asked.

   His point was nothing is stopping you, or nothing should be stopping you.

   I got a little boost from that.

   Prior to that, in the 70s I loved the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fight song contained the phrase “gotta make it happen.” It was a young, underdog team and that song was and is an inspiration.

   After years of trying to break into journalism I finally landed a job at the Frontiersman newspaper in Wasilla, Alaska.  At one point the news staff got a tone of congratulations from the publisher thanking us for “making it happen.”

   We greatly appreciated that. It’s possible I still have that note, because I tend to save such things.

   All these things came to mind when I read a piece I found on the internet. I would like to credit the source. But it’s one of these things that is just everywhere. Whoever wrote this was on the mark:

Things That Aren’t Doing The Thing

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.

Fantasizing 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.”

   Then there is this from my favorite Old Testament book, Ecclesiastes:

    “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Ecc. 9:10 NKJV).

   As I was graduating from college, somebody, can’t remember who now, congratulated me on this and that I had done in my time there. At the time I was confident (stupid?) enough to say, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

   Forty years on, I would amend that to “You ain’t seen nothing.”

   And the grave, mentioned as a sure destination in that verse from Ecclesiastes, is much closer now than it was then. 

   I have wondered in print, writing to my long-time pen pal Angie, how long my letters would have been over the years if I only wrote about things I actually did, and left out are the plans, schemes and dreams.

   And you won’t be surprised to learn that I started this post about doing the thing/not doing the thing, at least a year ago, maybe two years, got about 300 words in and there it sat in a folder labeled “Next.”

   I don’t have a big finish for this post. Wish I did. A neutral onlooker wouldn’t wager much money that I start “doing the thing,” late in life. Squandered potential is a very common tale.

   But there are also thousands of stories of older people getting their act together and achieving something, either after many failures or after long periods of not trying.

   Stay tuned?