Just do it

On Sunday (four days ago) I decided to shave my head. Why? Because as long as I can remember I’ve wondered what it would be like to have a shaved head.

So I made an appointment with Brian (who’s a fantastic guy and an artist with hair) at Blokes Hair (www.blokeshair.com) for Monday early evening (just after I finished work).

I imagine it wasn’t his most challenging assignment ever, but Brian shaved my head for me. He also gave me some good advice on how to avoid burning my freshly-exposed scalp to a crisp in the African sun.

The point of all of this is not that I shaved my head. That’s pretty normal for many people. The point is I finally made a decision after gently mulling it over for possibly as long as 15 years. And in the end, the decision-making process took pretty much no time at all.

Why did I think about shaving my head for so very long before actually doing it? The best explanation I can offer is fear. Fear of doing something different, venturing (however gently) into the unknown.

Was the fear justified? Absolutely not. What was I scared of’? That I’d look terrible? Even if that were the case (it’s not), my hair will grow back. In a few short weeks my head will look like I didn’t shave it at all.

So I’ve learned some lessons. Firstly, to just do it – quit wondering about the consequences and just go for it. Secondly, that most decisions are reversible or recoverable (in this case, my hair will grow back in not very long). Thirdly, that being decisive, even in just this one little thing, makes me more interesting to the people around me – everyone wants to know why I did it and most express some admiration for taking such a supposedly “brave” step.

All in all, just doing it has been an amazingly positive experience. From now on, decisions will be made quickly and decisively. I expect the results to be positive.