Observations are good. They inform action. They give feedback on actions you’ve already taken. But actions can only be so informed.
I’m an incessant note taker—in meetings, on calls, even watching movies when I’m supposed to be relaxing. I’ll open a text/slack conversation with myself and jot down a few bullet points.
Seems like a good thing, right? But what happens when you observe more than is reasonably digestible? More than is possibly implementable? There’s only so much time in the day, not to mention friction costs from switching between pursuits.
Same with reading. You can only spend so much time in the armchair next to the bookshelf before you have to get up and try for yourself what others have written about.
There’s also an element of recency. If your memory is mediocre like mine, you can only hold a thought in your head for so long before it’s displaced by something more recent (why I take notes).
Metabolically, you can only burn so many calories thinking of high-level theories with your brain before there are no calories left to execute on those theories with your physical body.
So I’ve learned to let a lot go. Even ideas that seem really good, sometimes they’re not worth the startup cost, especially at the opportunity cost of what I’m already doing.