These days, there’s no reason meal planning should be tough, even for vegetarians and vegans.

We’ve got tons of cookbooks and nearly infinite recipes at our fingertips on the web, not to mention all of the loose ideas of meals in our heads.

So why is it so hard to answer the question, “What do you want for dinner tonight?” Or, even harder, to sit down over the weekend and actually plan out — gasp! — seven dinners?

The problem: We have too many choices

Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette, anything you want—that just kills creativity.

–Jack White (of the White Stripes)

In Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist (where I found the Jack White quote), Kleon relates a story about Dr. Seuss that really hit home for me. First as a writer, and later as a cook.

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Like setting a kitchen timer and meditating for five minutes.

Or doing just one set of pushups, as many as you can do.

Or taking two minutes to think of ten new things you’re grateful for, and lucky to have in your life.

Or writing down one thing that you love about your significant other.

Any one of these simple things, if done every day, could have a big impact on your life. But as Jim Rohn used to say, and as this post is titled, the simplest things to do are also the simplest things to not do.

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Post written by Susan Lacke.

“Are you okay?”

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that while training with a friend or teammate, I’d be rich. When I’m active, I cough. A lot. Every time I run or ride my bike, you’d think I spend my free time chain-smoking Pall Malls.

For the past few years, I’ve tried to pinpoint the cause of this cough. It’s rarely debilitating – only a nuisance. In slow, easy workouts, it’s actually not that bad. But during interval workouts or tempo runs, the cough is a constant, annoying companion who I wish would just go the hell away.

Only recently have I gained an official diagnosis: exercise-induced asthma.

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Think of a time you had a great idea but you just didn’t act on it. Perhaps you’ve wanted to change careers for a while, but you just haven’t pulled the trigger. Or maybe you’d like to give triathlon a shot, but your bike is still collecting dust in your garage.

What happened? What’s the difference between ideas and reality?

Fear.

Fear of being laughed at. Fear of difficulty. Fear of not doing it right. Fear of the unknown. Fear of standing out. Fear of failure.

Imagine if you were to put your idea — say, a vegan-friendly running shoe company, or a way to get fresh produce into urban “food deserts” — into a national spotlight and asked for help to make it happen. You would have no clue if people would jump at the opportunity to help your dreams come to reality, or if you’d just hear crickets.

It’s a scary prospect, right?

There’s a whole website for people who have done just that — taken their big ideas and put them out for the world to see, hoping they’ll become a reality. And they’d like your help.

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