What Is It That You Need to Start Doing?

Weeks ago I started drafting this article, which has been lingering in my brain for months. When you're not in the habit of doing something, like pressing "publish" on an article, it's easy to delay things another day, week...month.

This article was going to be about the importance of "nontrivial commitments," which it still will be, but it's more about the question in the title:

What is it that you need to start doing?

For me the answer was, oddly enough, play tennis.

For an entire decade post-college, every time I saw someone playing tennis on a beautiful summer night, I would wonder: Why am I not out there?

I love tennis, I love competing, and yet something was blocking me from getting back on the court.

Thankfully, with the help of a coach I was working with at the time (shoutout Jaime!), I could finally see that getting back into tennis was the action I could take to address some things in my life I wanted to change, like:

• Being less consistent in my workouts than I'd like
• Not challenging myself competitively
• Not establishing community with others

To address those things separately would be difficult, boring, and unsuccessful. I had to find the thing that, if I could commit to it, would help me start being who I wanted to be by doing what I know I should be doing. For me, that's tennis.

What is it for you?

It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to sound right, but take a moment now to consider: what is it that you need to start doing?

Once you've got it, pair it with a nontrivial commitment.

A nontrivial commitment?

Every Tuesday from September through May, 16 men show up at 8pm on Tuesday nights to play tennis at Elite Sports Club in Brookfield.

If you know how much I love sleep, you might be surprised to know that yes, I'm often a part of that group of 16. As in, I start playing tennis at 8pm.

These are 16 people who, at the end of their day, decide to drive through oft-snowy streets to play tennis with each other.

If someone doesn't show up, the entire group is impacted.

And what makes it special is the fact that in order for everything to work, everyone must show up at 8pm every Tuesday night.

It's not as easy as jumping on a Zoom call or occasionally getting together to play tennis or reacting to a group text, but the fact that it is hard, that it's a nontrivial commitment, is the thing that makes it special.

And I look forward to it every single week.

What is it for you? And what nontrivial commitment can you make?

Do it, it's worth it.