Hey :) 

Something interesting happened this morning.

An old Basecamp notification popped up — one of those “future Chris” reminders from months ago.

It was an idea we’d written down to start a new podcast in 2026.

At the time, it probably felt like a decent idea. Worth considering. Maybe even exciting.
But instead of doing anything with it, I wrote it down and left it alone.

When it resurfaced today, I actually laughed.

It’s a really bad idea.

And I felt genuinely grateful to my past self for having the restraint not to act on it.

That sounds small, but it’s not.

Because the hard part isn’t coming up with ideas.
The hard part is not doing things.

You can only do a few things.
Less really is more.
You can have almost anything you want — just not all at the same time.
Not every idea is equal.

And ideas that aren’t clearly linked to an important problem or a genuinely critical opportunity probably don’t deserve much more than a note in a list.

There are thousands of things you could be doing at any given moment.

But a bit of thought before action changes everything.
It nudges you closer to doing the right thing, at the right time — especially the thing that only you can do, and that has the highest leverage.

I’m noticing this pattern show up in other areas of my life too.

A really simple example is wish lists.

Almost everywhere online gives you the option to “save for later.” And I think that’s a habit worth spreading across your whole life and work.

Fancy a new pair of Nikes? Add them to a wish list and see if you still want them in six months.

Fancy a few new books on Amazon? Same thing. Put them on a list. See if you actually come back to them.

Got a new idea for growing your business? Write it down. Don’t act. Revisit it later.

And I think this points to something deeper that I’m still getting my head around.

Most of us default to yes.

Yes to the idea.
Yes to the purchase.
Yes to the opportunity.
Yes to “I’ll just squeeze it in.”

What’s interesting is what happens when yes is no longer the default.

If you’re not allowed to say yes straight away, you’re forced into thinking.

And the first move becomes obvious:
You put it in a list.
You step away.
You let time do some of the work.

Time becomes a filter.

Either you come back to it because it genuinely matters — or you don’t, because it never really did.

And that’s kind of the point.

By not defaulting to yes, you’re not shutting things down.
You’re protecting your attention.
You’re creating space for the few things that actually deserve your energy.

I’m still figuring this out, but it feels like one of those quiet 80/20 ideas that compounds over time — not because of what you add, but because of what you don’t.

🗣️ 👀

Chris.