do one's thing

Idioms and Phrases

Also, do one's own thing . Pursue one's interests or inclination; do what one does best or enjoys the most. For example, I really give him credit for doing his thing and not being discouraged by what the critics say , or Phyllis is busy doing her own thing, running the magazine and publishing books . Although this colloquialism became closely associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, it is actually much older. In one of his essays (1841) Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “But do your thing and I shall know you.” However, it came into wide use only during the mid-1900s.

Related Words

• accomplish
• achieve
• act
• close
• complete
• conclude
• create
• determine
• end
• execute
• finish
• make
• move
• operate
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• prepare
• produce
• succeed
• undertake
• work