It's An Inside Job
As we trudge through the depths of February and winter, it can be a great time for reflection.
There are so many projects we dream about doing.
Writing a book. Painting a canvas. Teaching a class. Building a business.
We use calendars and deadlines. We try pushing hard until we’re bruised by our own self-criticism and self-flagellation. We dream of being different people who actually succeed and meet goals and get things done.
But what if we are already exactly who we should be? What if we don’t need to change the inside at all? What if we learn to make space for our fear and doubts in total acceptance without fighting it?
Remove the resistance and there’s no longer anything to fight.
Maybe what is really needed is massive action no matter what’s lurking inside. We get in our heads and overanalyze – we cite our personality defects and reasons why we are broken.
What if being broken is exactly what we need to be uniquely us? To have what we create to be so special because a whole person could never have seen what we see?
Maybe if we start looking at ourselves differently and appreciating all our pieces, we can move forward in a fresh way.
For years, I wondered why I couldn’t write books with plenty of time before deadline. I’d try really hard. I’d calculate word count and organize but find myself doing other things, delaying writing and then scrambling to beat a ticking clock.
We call these people procrastinators. It’s a negative term which I believe is misused.
What if we are simply people who work well under the steady pressure of urgency? What if that exact urgency inspires us to move forward, knowing there is now a time frame, and massive action is needed. Thinking is behind us. Worrying is behind us. Analyzing and coming up with a million ways we can fail is behind us.
Because we need to DO fast, and when we are DOING, we are not THINKING. Our minds take a step back and give us the room to do the work.
I’ve taken a bunch of workshops and seminars that break down the assholery of our given brain, and what tools we can use to manage it for the good. To help us succeed rather than trying to protect us by imagining endless failures.
I don’t yell or criticize myself anymore about waiting too close to deadlines. It gives me a sense of urgent excitement that motivates me to write. When the clock is ticking, I feel alive. I feel driven.
Others may need different stimulations to drive them to action. Find yours. Think about the times when you have completed the things that make you proud to be you. Times that amazed you. Some may be inspired by grit, or their family’s needs, or money.
We can do only so much prep work before we need to move.
Find your urgency. Find the action.
Move your body and get the energy up. Create a deadline. Put up a preorder or press the record video or write a scene that sucks. Recruit a friend or partner to push. Write down the one action that you will complete today.
Make the time. We all have the time. Choose to use the time to ACT and not prep, or think, or worry, or wait.
THE LOWEST STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE IS PERFECTION.
Perfection kills action. It is the barrier. Our minds love perfection because it keeps us SAFE.
Let’s make this week full of work that moves the needle forward – not busy work.
ACTION work.
For me, I’m working on constructing a writer’s course, one that I’ve wanted to start for almost two years. I have very good excuses for putting it off. Endless deadlines and other work that’s more familiar and easier to choose.
This week, I’m writing out a module and getting in front of the camera. It’s an action step that will move me closer to my goal.
What’s one thing you can do today that’s action oriented?