Do The Thing That Keeps You Up At Night. My Story About Finding Mental Freedom.
As writers, designers, creators or coders, our mental abilities and capacity to think clearly is everything.
Without it, we’re stuck.
Yet it’s so easy to get stuck in a downward spiral. This is what happened to me when I neglected one small thing:
I had to do a small job for someone. It wasn’t a big, important task. But it was something I needed to do.
It wasn’t a massive priority for him either, so I allowed it to be sidelined.
It was just a small bullet point on the “do later” list. No big deal.
And I regret it badly. Here’s why…
Because that small thing I could’ve done weeks before turned into something that became a source of anxiety and stress.
This is what happened in my mind. And how I lost precious mental clarity.
I got the task.
Cool. I’ll do it Monday.
to…
Oh crap I forgot!
to…
Oh man I’ve got to do this thing.
to…
Crap, it’s been weeks.
to…
Man what does he think about me right now?!
to…
I HAVE to do this tomorrow!
to…
Damnit! I still haven’t done it!
to…
Oh, I can’t think about this right now.
Avoidance. Stress. Anxiety. Repeat.
Until I just did it.
And it all went away.
Now think with me for a moment.
Think of the thing that kept you up at night.
The thing you remember you still have to do.
The thing that maybe… stresses you out?
Or maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe it excites you.
Go do it.
Get it done.
Now. Tonight. This morning. Whatever the time is. Get it started. Get it done.
If you don’t, it will keep coming back.
It’ll keep taking up your mental bandwidth.
It will seem to just grow in size, from something small to something that’s as daunting as your first public speech.
Time tends to have an interesting effect on things we need to do.
What was a small issue or a small thing became a source of anxiety and…
…avoidance.
But as you’ve figured out by now.
The thing isn’t going away.
Just get it done and that big, growing stress bear hanging on your back will disappear.
And this is the most ironic part
Once you just get started, you realise how not-a-big-deal the actual thing was.
It just became a really big deal because of the time that passed.
When you get started, chances are you’ll finish it pretty quickly.
And you’ll think to yourself…
Oh… that wasn’t that hard. Why didn’t I just do this earlier?!
That’s what happened to me.
But having it done is not the best part.
The best part was the mental freedom it gave me.
It felt like…
I was unshackled!
I was free!
My mental bandwidth was mine again.
Instead of feeling down or stressed, I was free to think of greater things.
My confidence was back.
Good feelings created better feelings.
I reversed a downward spiral.
And it was all because of a stupid little task that I put off for one day too long.
So go. Go and do the thing that’s been on your mind.
And I’d love to hear your story below and how doing the thing has helped you.
