Mark Manson calls his "Do Something Principle" one of the most powerful life hacks in existence. This principal states that taking action is not just the effect of motivation, but also the cause of it.
Want to achieve greatness, but tired of waiting for a brilliant idea to strike? We start to move forward when we stop thinking about it, and start acting instead. Do anything at all! Start a blog about knitting, open a homemade yogurt stand, write a memoir about seventh grade. While we're busy keeping busy, our brains may relax enough to let that brilliant idea form. As Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."
Already have a brilliant idea, but are paralyzed on how to implement it? Doing the tiniest of actions related to that goal helps untangle the bundle of anxiety and indecision and allows us to move forward. Manson writes,
"What I found is that often once they did something, even the smallest of actions, it would soon give them the inspiration and motivation to do something else. They had sent a signal to themselves, “OK, I did that, I guess I can do more.” And slowly we could take it from there."
Here are a few more:
Great ideas happen by putting small, not-great ideas out into the world
The creator of the emoticon is among the inventors who regret their inventions