107. It only gets more difficult
You’d think Nike was on to something when it said, just do it.
Today I was reading a few pages of Sun Tzu’s, ‘The Art of War’, and as well as it being a great guide to military strategy, it holds some pearls of wisdom for everyday life.
I was contemplating his quote;
“Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays”,
It made me reflect on the times I have unjustifiably put things off.
Being too busy, tired, or ‘not ready’.
90% of the time it is a lack of priority that prohibits progress.
I hate emails, and (until recently) had an inbox with around 6,000 and about 100+ unread.
Every day I found myself pushing clearing it to the next day, reading only the essential emails.
But the monster in the corner only got bigger.
Enough was enough when I had a message sent to me about a lack of a response to an email- I thought of Tim Ferriss’ quote on procrastination,
“Being busy is a form of laziness- lazy thinking and indiscriminate action”
I was not going to be lazy.
I can sometimes overthink something so much that nothing actually happens.
There is a place for action and another for contemplation, the latter should have a lot less time than I usually give it.
Counter to the mainstream narrative, I believe it’s okay to be unhappy. Feelings are often a bad indicator of what should happen, they are subjective and ever-changing. It shouldn’t be the driver of decision-making.
Better to be unhappy and move the needle forward in your life than stay stagnant.
The decision is the pain of change or of doing nothing. Either way, pain is felt.
But like my email example, despite the uncomfortable feeling of the change, the objective benefit could be felt by me and others I could respond to.
Moving forward, I’m not going to delay stuff.
I’m going to recognise when my justification is an excuse.
I’m going to push the needle forward when emotions are high.
And as Mark Twain once said,
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”