Often through articulation, we get to the gold of a thought.
Or it’s through articulation that we convince someone.
Or we realize we were wrong and don’t quite have all the information.
Or we begin to build a tribe who agrees with us.
Or we get smarter.
None of this happens by having an opinion or retweeting someone’s statement; it happens when we do the emotional labor of articulating what we believe and why we believe it–not to crush others, but to grow ourselves.
There’s no doubt procrastination happens because of fear and worry and the feeling of risk – we despise that feeling.
I’d argue that inaction is as much of a result of us finding pleasure in the pressure as it is to reduce the time we feel uncomfortable.
There’s something invigorating about thrashing. It’s almost as if it’s another way to ignore the little voice in our heads saying we’re not good enough or that we should do something else that doesn’t feel as risky. There’s no time for that. There’s work to be done.
And so we do it. Time and time again, we show up.
The one’s who choose to take advantage of this knowledge will find a way to thrash earlier and more often.
Stay Positive & Sounds Like Its Time To Set Our Own Deadlines
What if what we’re faking is the story we tell ourselves about our fears or the feeling of risk – so we do nothing – or that the world is against us again and again.
The narrative we tell about where we’re at is a powerful one, and constantly telling it again and again to ourselves and to others gives it more power until it’s solidified.
We don’t have to fake that reality, though. Better to fake a story of optimism and allow the repetition of doing so strengthen our minds and increase the likelihood of a better future.
It’s worth checking ourselves on what we’re actually faking.
We might be making things worse than they need to be.
Too often we wait to be told what to do, when to do it and how to do it.
We need to give ourselves more agency.
More agency to ask for what we want, reach for it when we want it and to level up in a way that works for us – not a way that the program lays out.
I often make the argument that people are waiting for you to deliver your work, to choose yourself and to rise to the occasion rather than waiting to have a hand reach out.
Perfect example happened today when I received a message from someone with interest in becoming the manager of a brew bar I’m opening.
I haven’t put my openings on indeed yet or reached out to those in the industry who I have kept business cards from or made a timeline or questionnaire for, but I will be meeting with him to discuss the opportunity.
Yes, because he has the base level skills to do the work that matters, but even more so because he has agency not to wait for me to ask for a show of hands.
It amazes me how little time people make for things – and I write this in a bittersweet way.
More often than not, we don’t need as much time as we tell ourselves we need. Our default setting is to build in time to surf the web, be distracted, multi task, etc,.
But then we make even less time for things of importance.
Less time for understanding the target on a deeper level, exploring industries outside our own for inspiration and visualizing how what we’re about to do or create can have legs beyond the one touch point.
Time is precious and there are opportunity costs to it.
If we spend time here, we can’t spend time there.
If we do too much of X, we can’t immerse ourselves in Y.
As humans, we love to hide from opportunity costs because an analysis forces us to double down on the difficult work, the emotional labor.
But leaning into it is what sets those who are remarkable apart from those who aren’t. Making the time for what’s truly precious can be your differentiator.
Stay Positive & It Doesn’t Get Easier, But It Gets More Worth It
