Underpants Gnomes

03 March 2022

On an infamous episode of South Park, the boys do a school presentation about “underpants gnomes”— little elves that sneak into a house and steal underpants each night.

The underpants gnomes have a sophisticated plan for their operation:

It’s easy to mimic these underpants gnomes. For instance, every version of this newsletter is a fresh 3-pack of underpants. All these ideas are good (I hope), but they’re worthless without action. Collecting underpants can feel good—it feels like you’re doing something productive—but without a plan to turn these underpants into something (profit, happiness, a quilt of used panties), collecting them is a waste of time.

The same goes for obsessive planning. Don’t get me wrong: Some plans are helpful and vital, but plans without action can be a form of underpants collection.

How can you quickly turn an idea into action?