just do it.

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on a new topic daily, and send it to your inbox. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! you reading this is keeping me accountable, so thank you for that. as a treat, i drop cool resources/opportunities at the end. 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: just do it. 💪

today, my sister was telling me about an idea she has for a novel. i told her to go for it — self-publishing is becoming increasingly common now anyways.

“but i don’t really know how to get started..”

it seems that a perfectionist mindset runs in the family.

my response was, “just do it. literally start writing, and fix it after you’re done.”

so now, her first chapter is due next wednesday. 😋 i’ll keep you posted.

i also hold myself back from pursuing a lot of ideas. whether it’s a technical project or content creation, i often fall into the trap of obsessively planning things out without execution. my notion is a witness to this (ps. notion plus is free for students).

yeah, planning is more organized and seems more effective. but, you have nothing to show for your work until it’s actually out there for the world to see. you might as well fail a few attempts and plan based on what you learn. it’s a moving process that i also find challenging to internalize.

just doing things is a skill i’m practicing. whenever i catch myself over planning without actually testing things out, i stop and just hit publish.

take this daily brain dump for example. my intention was to start writing every day, and so i landed on this idea of a newsletter-type journal. my immediate instinct was to map out all of the prompts i was going to write about for the next month, but i stopped myself and decided on what i wanted to write about for just that day.

honestly, i come up with each topic 5 minutes before i start typing away. i’ve realized it keeps what i write more authentic. i’m literally just typing what i’m thinking on the spot. 🪄

but before i hit publish on my first post, i realized i needed an audience. so again, my first thought was to plan out my promo posts for all of my social media, even contemplating pushing my goal to a week later so i could market first. i mentally slapped myself, posted a quick story on instagram & hit publish.

i don’t think i would have received the same love on that post if it wasn’t genuine, which planning removes. thank you to you guys reading! 🫂

unlearning perfection and planning has been extremely intentional, and very rewarding. it’s something i’m practicing, and i 100% recommend that you try it out as well.

just do it. <3

cool finds of the day 🔍️