I’m currently reading a book called Do The Work. It moves fast. It makes sense. I’m really liking it so far, so much so, in fact, that I’m already taking its first major advice by stopping reading, and just beginning.
The idea –and it’s one I’ve long held on my own– is that, it is too easy to let resistance build up to any particular task, and that you will be much further ahead if you just begin… right now, without any preparation or planning, before you can find a reason to stop or back out.
(And it wasn’t easy, let me tell you. First, I noticed that the WordPress version needed updated, and so did the plugins, and the theme. Then, there were comments to approve, and then my main –and soon to be explored on this blog– type of procrastination kicked in, the “We have something we have to do in 3 hours, are you SURE this is the thing we should be working on”…. well, you get the idea.)
For example, I have on multiple occasions plotted out a long detailed publishing calendar for this ADHD blog of mine, but… I’ve never managed to get started on actually following that calendar.
Another example is, one of my major frustrations with ADD / ADHD is that I’ve spent a lifetime developing an almost terminal case of procrastination. As you can imagine, this is a focus of much of my research and effort when it comes to finding ways to live with ADD. However, you’ll notice there aren’t necessarily that many articles here about it. Why? Because instead of just writing an article about procrastination, I plot one out. You know, not some 300 word, 500 word, or even 5,000 word word article, but the end all, be all, of all procrastination articles ever written. But… I never finish the outline, let alone write the article.
The idea, at least so far, in the Do The Work book is that there is a thing called Resistance. This, of course, is not new, but if you start thinking of Resistance as a thing that is actively working against you, not because it’s malevolent, but because that’s just what it does (like gravity) then you can start steeling yourself against its force. You know it’s coming. You can feel it when it is acting on you, and so on.
The idea, is that if you just get going, then the energy of your soul and the universe get going too. That, over time, it will build up to overcome Resistance. But, to make it work, you have to start beginning, right away.
Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.-Goethe
And, so here we are, with a throw-away, not worthy, no one will ever read this, non-magnum opus, article about procrastination and a potentially helpful book.
Oh, and those criticisms there in the previous paragraph, those are some of Resistance’s tools. By believing those things, this never gets published, I never get started, and Resistance wins… well, not today.
