By now you have seen the tweet:

you can just do things

— Sam Altman (@sama) December 21, 2024

Before this you may have heard “the world is your oyster” but it felt more like a fairytale.

Now you are watching tons of people “just do things” too. It’s right in front of your face. It’s real.

And this time you know deep down it’s actually true.

You can just do things

But here’s the kicker — you probably won’t.

And it’s not because you can’t. No, you definitely can.

It’s really because fear whispers, “What will they think?” “What if I am wrong?”

Everyone is a victim of this. You may hate it, but without it we may be extinct. This paranoia and fear has made us the most deadliest, dominant species at the top of the food chain.

It’s a mechanism to protect you. Keep you alive. But most of the time, a paralyzing force that makes you not just do things in this relatively safe world.

So what can you do?

I will say it out right. Nothing in this post will free you from this problem. I’m sorry. There is nothing I can do for you. This is your problem to solve. But what I can do is alert you of the problem and suggest a path forward. So here is my stab at that as I continue to try and just do things like you.

First things first, you heard the problem. Fear. Now you need to see the problem in your own life. I’ve been shocked seeing how much my brain was freaking out 100s of times a day. Yes, a day. And I didn’t even notice it before. It’s scary, ugly, and a hard pill to swallow. This leads you into the second thing.

Second, you need to truly understand fear. You may ask “Any good book recs on fear?”. But this is the wrong idea. I said “truly understand” fear, not know fear. Think memorizing facts about fear vs. being incredibly familiar with it in your own body. True understanding you can’t put into words (so I won’t continue trying to describe it).

Again, this is up to you to dedicate time to and explore. Once you begin to feel the fear and deeply understand it, its power begins to slip away. Its grip on you begins to lessen. Then you are ready for step 3 (which will prob start happening anyway).

Third and final step, accept it. Fear is hardwired into you folks. It’s a losing battle to fight and wish for it to disappear. It may always be there, but it doesn’t have to paralyze you if you see its true colors.

The beautiful thing about “you can just do things” is that if you have the freedom to do things then you also have the freedom to not do things.

Every single time you have a choice.

I said you likely won’t just do things because most of you let fear make the choice for you.

Take back the choice and give yourself a chance.

You can just do things.

But will you?