Forget The Noun, Do The Verb

Austin Kleon, in a 2018 presentation said, “forget the noun, do the verb.” In a nutshell, don’t just want to be somebody, do whatever something a person like that does. This is how progress happens, personally and professionally. 

Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without doing the work. “Forget about being a writer,” says the novelist Ann Packer. She says, “Follow the impulse to write.” 

Because if you let go of the thing that you’re trying to be, the noun, and you focus on the actual work you need to be doing, the verb, it will take you someplace further and far more interesting. 

Amen.