There are times when feel we have more to do than we know how to handle.
Whether we’ve got 10 things on a To-Do list, 100 applications to review, or 10,000 unread emails in our inbox, the feelings are the same:
Fear.
Procrastination.
Guilt that we haven’t started yet…
Or, if we have started, that we’re not doing as well as we could be.
Faced with a choice between confronting these emotions head-on or covering them over with distraction from another quarter, we’ll often choose the latter.
Sometimes, these distractions seem “productive”. We feel justified in our decision to prioritise this over that, even though we know the ways we’re occupying our time aren’t going to move the needle.
Rather than working through our priorities and focusing on the highest value tasks before everything else, we bury ourselves in busywork. Anything to avoid reality.
And that’s assuming we get as far as the masquerade stage of output (where we’re getting something done, even if it’s only of nominal value).
In other scenarios, it’s all too easy for us to fritter away our days with abject distractions:
Pursuits that we know are wasting our time, but that provide some level of comfort and escape from the pressures we feel… And in doing so, become all we care about.
It’s possible to think our way out of these situations. Occasionally, we’ll have a startling moment of clarity that brings our actions into perspective. One drives home the need to drop whatever story we’ve been telling ourselves in favour of another (more clear-headed) tale.
However, there’s a challenge:
problems are rarely solved at the same level we’ve caused them.
The troubles we create through our thinking and habits are there for a reason.
But we don’t always need to know the reason.
Sometimes, it’s enough to simply acknowledge these feelings for what they are, then move forward anyway.
Fear, procrastination, anxiety, guilt – none of these emotions are necessarily a problem.
They’re just feelings. Emotions are not the issue. Seeing them as a problem is.
Let them be.
Instead, frame things with a new question:
If I assume I could feel these things and take action regardless, what would I do next?
Sit with it. Explore it. And when you’re ready, act on it.
By facing the circumstances we’ve put that emotion-generating stock in, we accomplish two things:
- Emotion’s grip on our potential loosens.
- We learn to move forward and do what we need to. Regardless of how we’re feeling.
We can do more than we realise.
Not everything. But enough. And that’s all we need.