Why Taking Action Matters More Than Thinking About It

A Simple Notebook, A Shared Experience, A Reminder That We’re Not Alone

The Chasm Between Thinking and Doing

Taking action is the great separator. It’s the difference between an idea that lingers in the attic of your mind, or the drafts folder of your Substack, collecting dust, and one that walks out into the world, breathing, tangible and real.

We like to believe that thinking about doing something is, in itself, taking action. That the intention to start is almost as good as starting.

I'm afraid to say, it’s not.

Lets look at this alternative dictionary entry:

Taking Action (verb phrase)

1. Definition: The audacious move of actually doing something instead of simply lounging about waiting for cosmic intervention. The process of expending real effort, physical, mental or otherwise, to bring about a desired result or discernible outcome, instead of merely daydreaming and whining about why the world hasn’t spontaneously rearranged itself to your liking.

2. Synonyms: Making a move, stepping up, getting off one’s arse, seizing the day, taking the plunge, biting the bullet, doing something productive for once in your life.

3. Usage: Commonly applied in motivational speeches to jolt bystanders out of their inertia. Often heralded by well meaning family or friends who tire of your whining. Includes planning and then carrying through with at least one tangible deed in the real world.

4. Examples:

   1. “After letting his dishes evolve into a new life form, he finally rolled up his sleeves and washed them, thus triumphantly taking action against a potential takeover by a new species.”

   2. “He discovered his gym membership card was being used strictly as a bookmark, so he actually walked into the gym, shocking everyone, including himself, and thus took action.”

Intention is the blueprint, but only action gets the house built. Sadly, many homes are planned to perfection, yet their plots remain nothing but empty concrete slabs, foundations laid with care, but never built upon, destined to stay unfinished.

Action can be terrifying. It requires stepping from the realm of the theoretical, where everything is clear in your mind, safe and perfect. Into reality, where things get messy, where you might get it wrong, where things don't go to plan, where someone might see you trying.

That’s the scary bit, isn’t it? Being seen in the attempt, before you’ve figured it all out. Putting yourself out there to be judged can make you feel naked and vulnerable. Maybe that’s why it took me three months to go from lurker to posting content on Substack.

Inaction is also a choice. It’s by far the less interesting one, the less fulfilling one. Every day, we stand on the edge of maybe, an idea, a change, a possibility. Most of the time, we stay put. Sometimes, though, we lean forward, just enough to tip ourselves over the edge.

I've had an idea growing in the back of my mind for some time, but taking action felt like too much work. It was always something that I was going to do eventually, but it was never a priority.

What if it didn't work out? What if people laughed at me? What if…?

The February chapter of the Kaleidoscope Project, was the perfect time to take action. To not just write about action, but to actually take it, physically. Something small to start, but something real to get the ball rolling. Something that can maybe connect what my idea of Substack is, in the real world.

If you are not familiar, myself and

Moon Arica

set up this project in January to challenge not just ourselves, but anyone else who needed prompting to create something, the angle being that we all start from the same short prompt each month and the beauty is how different the results turn out to be. If you’d like to take part or learn more, this month Moon has taken the reins, you can read the brief over on Dare To Fail.

Kaleidoscope Challenge (February 2025)

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My Fledgling Idea

A handful of notebooks left behind for strangers out in the wild. Placed in spots where the right people, those most likely to engage, to add something, to continue the cycle, might find them.

It’s a gesture, a ripple, a thing done, rather than just considered.

I plan to hide notebooks in libraries, where people who love books and reading might find them. My hope is that they read my words in the front, and then add their own in turn, in the hope they will leave the book for the next person to find and repeat the cycle.

Doing something like this, even if I may never see the fruits of my labour, is still doing something. Here’s what I plan to do, to encourage people to write words in the physical world. Words that may never find their way back to me.

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Notes to Nobody

Introduction

Welcome to Notes to Nobody, a simple idea with one purpose: to remind us we're connected in ways we don’t always see.

This notebook is a collection of thoughts, reflections, and pieces of life left behind by strangers, each entry a small fragment of someone’s story. And now that you have discovered the notebook… it’s your turn.

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What To Do

1. Read: Flip through the pages. Let the words sit with you, whether they make you laugh, think, or just feel less alone.

2. Reflect: When you’re ready, add your own entry. It can be anything, a thought, a memory, a drawing, a story, a question, a poem. There are no rules, other than, be kind.

3. Release: Leave this notebook somewhere someone else will find it. Somewhere it might stumble into capable new hands. Ensure it's safe, dry and isn't likely to be lost forever. A library shelf is perfect. If you found it in a specific place, consider returning it to the same place. A local ledger to be revisited in the future.

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Prompts To Get You Started

• What’s something you’ve never said out loud?

• Write about a moment that changed you, even if no one else noticed.

• What do you wish someone had told you when you needed it most?

• Describe the happiest memory you’ve got tucked away.

• What are you afraid to lose?

Notes to Nobody

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Why This Matters

In a world full of noise, sometimes all it takes is a quiet page to remind us that we’re not alone.

Every notebook is a thread, weaving strangers together in unexpected ways. You don’t know who will read your words, or how much they might need them.

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Share, If You’d Like

If you find or contribute to a notebook, you can share photos or stories online using #NotesToNobody.

But you don’t have to. This is analogue first and foremost.

The magic is in the mystery, in knowing that your words might find someone who needed them, even if you never know their name.

Keep the pages turning.

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Would You Join Me?

So the above is the simple instructions that I am going to write, in my best handwriting, in my notebooks before releasing them in local libraries, both the public ones, universities, and wherever I might visit that has books.

What do you think of Notes to Nobody? Would you add your thoughts if you found one?

It's something I'd like to grow over time, adding more to locations I visit. But I can only do so much, and only in the places I visit.

Would you like to help?

If you’d like to get involved in your own area by donating a notebook to the public good, I invite you to join in. This isn't about me, and it's not about you. It's about all of us. A creative endeavour that could spread far and wide… or it could die a death the first time a librarian finds the book and throws it away. (Are there any librarians out there? Is this a stupid idea?)

But the concept of failure isn't a reason not to try.

I may never find out if this project actually works. The books might be moved, removed, stolen, they might get penises drawn in it by creative artists or get ripped up and discarded.

But that's not a reason to give up.

It might open up a whole new world to someone who needs it, giving them an anonymous creative outlet they didn’t know they needed.

I hope it's the latter.

Time will tell.

But either way, I've taken action. I did what I set out to. The rest is up to everyone else.