Who among us hasn't planned of doing something, only to fall apart right before doing it out of fear of the potential consequences? At one point or another, it always seems to happen, regardless of who we are. And, like most modern existentialist concerns, this one was addressed by Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Near the end of his "To be or not to be" speech in Act III, Hamlet speaks of how overthinking causes "the native hue of resolution" to become "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought". If anyone knows about this, it's Hamlet; the entire play sees him struggle to enact his father's vengeance, only for his overly thoughtful nature to get in the way.

But there's also something more to Hamlet's hesitation, namely, a disgust with the "weary, stale, flat and unprofitable" world around him. Within this vision of the world, there is little room for any meaningful action, and only the mind has any true purpose. While few of us may be as extreme as Hamlet, this could help to explain why we sometimes struggle with this issue- not just out of fear for the consequences, but out of a sense of futility. In which case, it's better to just enact our proposed plans within the theater of the mind.