Chapter 20: You Can Just Do Things

Most people never start.

They wait until they feel “ready”.

Until they’ve earned it.

Until someone tells them it’s time.

They assume that big ideas require permission —

From institutions, experts, investors, “real” entrepreneurs.

But the truth?

No green light. No credentials. No perfect plan.

Just conviction and movement.

The Old Way of Thinking

Most people operate in “permission mode.”

They believe meaningful things only happen when:

• They have a perfect strategy

• Someone validates the idea

• They feel 100% prepared

So they wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Until they wake up one day and realize someone else did the thing they’ve been thinking about for years.

The New Way: Move Before You’re Ready

If something’s tugging at you — trust your intuition.

Even if you don’t know where it’s going.

The best builders, creators, and entrepreneurs?

They don’t wait for the “perfect time” to begin.

They start — and become “qualified” through the process.

Personal Experience

Let me show you what this looks like in my own life:

1. I paddled 23 miles across the Catalina Channel

I’d never paddled before, but when I got the call with this idea?

I said yes.

Trained for 3 months. Landed sponsors.

And did the damn thing while documenting the entire story.

2. I moved to Portugal and started sharing ideas online

No clear plan. Just intuition and conviction.

I started writing, making videos, and sharing my thoughts on the internet.

Now?

That’s turned into a 10K+ person community, and opened doors I didn’t know existed.

3. I joined a “Build with AI accelerator”

Last week I said “f*ck it” and joined an AI build accelerator.

No idea. No experience with coding. No background in AI.

But, I joined anyway.

Three days later, I have a working prototype (and more ideas)

None of this happened because I had it all figured out.

It happened because I started.

Craig Fuller & Flying Magazine

I love this story and needed to include it.

So, Craig’s a tech entrepreneur with a deep love for aviation.

He needed a hangar near Nashville, but there was a three-year wait for permits.

Instead of sitting around…

He bought Flying Magazine.

Curveball right? But what he did next is the perfect example of this idea.

Instead of running traditional ads with their past sponsors…

He ran a test ad inside the magazine for a luxury airplane community he hadn’t built yet.

The result?

He pre-sold $28 million worth of homes to go build his own airplane community and get the hangar he needed.

No experience in real estate development.

No official permission.

Just a well-positioned bet — and the guts to follow through.

This is what happens when you start living the idea “you can just do things”

Try This Today

If something’s been stuck in idea mode, ask yourself this:

Then act.

Stop overthinking and just GO.

• Share the idea

• Buy the domain

• Email the partner

• Build the prototype

• Make the thing real

You don’t need a map.

You need movement.

Start. Then adjust.

Final Thought

Most people never start because they think the path needs to be clear.

But the truth?

So whatever you’ve been sitting on —

Give yourself the green light.

Say yes.

Build in motion.

Let it be messy.

Remember — you can just do things.

Rooting for ya,

—Dodds