Building Is the Direction

Life can be confusing.

Where to go. What to do. Who to surround yourself with.

Direction isn't found by sitting around thinking about it. Direction is found by starting to move. It could be getting up early and exercising. It could be meeting someone new that you're nervous for. Whatever it is, the hard way is often the right way. Pick a thing, do it, and the answers will begin to reveal themselves.

We tend to think motivation comes first and action follows. It's usually the other way around. The psychologist Peter Lewinsohn built an entire depression treatment on this. You take the action first. You don't wait to feel like it. The wanting-to catches up (Lewinsohn, 1974; Dimidjian et al., 2011). Your brain rewards the pursuit, not the sitting still (Innovative Human Capital, 2025).

Even if you take a "wrong step." You move in a direction that ultimately doesn't feel like the right path, and now you have new insight. You've learned a valuable lesson — what you don't want to do. This is arguably more important than knowing exactly what you want. Don't beat yourself up for feeling like you wasted time on something that didn't bring you where you thought it might. Now you have a new set of knowledge, connections, and wisdom to take with you on your next journey.

The one catch: a misstep only teaches you if you're willing to look at it. Failure stings, and most of us flinch and tune it out. That's how the lesson gets lost (Eskreis-Winkler & Fishbach, 2019). Sit with it long enough to hear what it's telling you and it sticks around for years (Madsen & Desai, 2010).

And it's that exact knowledge that will likely set you apart down the road. You'll connect ideas and bring perspectives others overlooked, because you've stood in places they never had to. The winding road isn't wasted motion. It's how you gather the pieces.

Who knows what the right path is for you.

The only wrong one is not picking one and moving forward.

Just keep going.

This reflects personal experience and general research, not medical advice. Behavioral activation is a clinical treatment for depression; if you're struggling with low mood or motivation in a way that affects your daily life, please talk to a qualified professional.

References

Dimidjian, S., Barrera, M., Jr., Martell, C., Muñoz, R. F., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2011). The origins and current status of behavioral activation treatments for depression. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104535

Eskreis-Winkler, L., & Fishbach, A. (2019). Not learning from failure—the greatest failure of all. Psychological Science, 30(12), 1733–1744. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619881133

Innovative Human Capital. (2025). The neuroscience of effort-driven motivation: How action precedes drive in organizational performance. https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/article/the-neuroscience-of-effort-driven-motivation-how-action-precedes-drive-in-organizational-performanc

Lewinsohn, P. M. (1974). A behavioral approach to depression. In R. J. Friedman & M. M. Katz (Eds.), The psychology of depression: Contemporary theory and research. Washington, DC: Winston-Wiley.

Madsen, P. M., & Desai, V. (2010). Failing to learn? The effects of failure and success on organizational learning in the global orbital launch vehicle industry. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 451–476. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.51467631