Hey it's Buono. This one might not apply to everyone, but if you're the type of person who constantly wants to try new things — what I'd call "multi-passionate" syndrome — this might hit hard.
I'm not talking about ADHD in the clinical sense. I mean the kind of person who just can't stop getting excited about new projects. Can't sit still. Can't commit to one lane.
That's me. Always has been.
Society calls it "unfocused" or "jack of all trades." Not exactly flattering. And honestly, I used to believe them.
The Problem With Having No Specialty
Every time I hit a wall in life — career setbacks, pivots, difficult decisions — the same thoughts came up: "What's my specialty even?" and "Man, if I just had one clear weapon this would be so much easier."
I hated being this way. So I tried to fix it. Over and over.
"From now on, THIS is the only thing I'm doing for the rest of my life." I've made that vow to myself probably 10 times. Maybe more.
It never stuck. Sometimes it lasted a month. Sometimes I'd wake up the next morning and the conviction was already gone.
Every time it fell apart, I'd spiral: "Guess I'll never be a real expert at anything." Brutal cycle.
You Can't Fix This (And You Shouldn't Try)
Here's what I finally figured out: this isn't fixable. And more importantly — it doesn't need to be.
Two books helped me see this. "How to Find the Impulse to Leave the Rails of Life" and Koichiro Kokubun's "The Ethics of Boredom and Idleness."
Kokubun's argument blew my mind. His stance is basically: decision is the enemy.
Think about it. You quit your corporate job and declare "THIS is my path now!" Feels liberating, right? But then you spend the next five years trapped by that decision. Bending your life around it. Defending it to yourself.
And at some point you realize... how is this different from being trapped at the company? You just swapped one cage for another.
His proposal? Be more like an animal. Stop overthinking. Let yourself move toward whatever pulls you in the moment. Give yourself permission to not have a master plan.
When I read that, I nearly fell out of my chair. It was saying the exact same thing as the impulse book — from a completely different angle. That can't be a coincidence.
What Happened When I Stopped Deciding
This newsletter? Started on impulse. No plan. No idea how long it'll last.
Once I started trusting impulse over decision, I tried a bunch of stuff without asking permission from my own brain:
- Newsletter
- English vocab learning app
- Cooking (went deep on pasta, now eyeing homemade pizza)
- Unity + electronics projects
- Netflix foreign dramas
- AI image generation
Looking at that list, it makes zero sense. No common thread. No strategic narrative.
And that's fine.
The Time You Spend Hesitating Is the Real Waste
When I believed "commitment" was the only valid approach, I'd suppress every urge that didn't align with my Chosen Path. I'd resist the pull toward new things and force myself to stay in one lane.
But every time I resisted, this massive internal conflict would build up. "Is this really the right direction? Am I sure? What if I'm wrong?"
That hesitation phase was the real killer. Not the switching. The agonizing. Zero motivation, zero output, zero joy. Just sitting in indecision burning through days and weeks.
Eventually I realized: trying the thing and moving on quickly is WAY more efficient than debating whether to try it for months.
Horiemon said it best: "Get obsessed like a monkey." I used to think that was reckless. Now I think it's genius.
If you try something and it doesn't stick, leave it. Come back a year later if the itch returns. That's perfectly fine. Way better than staring at it sideways while forcing yourself to do something else.
This is partly a reminder to myself. But if you're stuck in the same loop — paralyzed between what you "should" do and what you actually want to do — I hope this helps even a little.
Just go do the thing.
Catch you later ✌️
Top comments (0)