My mom told me about this service she subscribes to for daily motivational quotes in her inbox. It’s like the non-parody version of [@afffirmations], but its fans are serious. She has a small notepad dedicated to maintaining a running list of her favorites. I was expecting another glowing sans-serif font, excitedly claiming that EVERYTHING I NEED IS ALREADY WITHIN ME or reminding me to APPRECIATE THE LITTLE THINGS against a beachfront backdrop.

She asked me if I knew “that basketball player.” Yeah, Michael Jordan. She agrees and proceeds with, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.

Sure. I’ve watched The Office probably ten times. I’m familiar. I wasn’t expecting to keep thinking about it, however. I had no idea that the words of Michael Jordan could have ever hit me this hard. Nine little words, meant to be a motivational slogan for basketball-loving athletes, had sent me into a tizzy of personal judgments and painful self-realizations.

What am I doing? Am I doing anything? Am I doing enough? How can I keep doing what I want to do? Do I even know what I want?

At some point, Michael Jordan (maybe) said, “Enough!” he put his pen and notepad down, each page exploding with detailed instructions on executing the perfect dunk. He turned his brain off, flipped his RESET switch, and stopped all the doubting and questioning and pondering and pacing and procrastinating and overthinking and planning– and did it. Without the first wobbly dribble and feeble throw, the 14-time all-star would have kept these wishes and aspirations confined to his imagination, daydreaming about what could have been if he had just started. Doing nothing creates the only final answer; everything else can change.