From 50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind:

If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

I won’t presume to speak for other people, but for me the answer to the first part of the question is simple: fear. I do things I don’t like every day; the reason I do them is because I like the consequences of not doing them even less. There are already too many ways that life can be messy; it’s best to at least mitigate what you can.

The second part isn’t as easy to answer. It’s easy to respond with excuses such as “I don’t have time” or “I don’t know how” but both of those are, at their heart, avoidance mechanisms. That’s one of the reasons I started the 101 in 1001 project (for which I am answering this question) to begin with. It was time for me to stop saying, “someday I’ll do what I like.”

I’m still not doing everything I like, but working on the project is helping me change that nebulous “someday” into firm plans. Two years, eight months, three weeks and five days is a specific enough time span that it keeps me in focus.