Time for Action

“Nothing is ours except time.”
— Seneca

The Obstacle

Time.
We can’t make more of it, but we can do more with the time we have. Most of us get stuck. Stuck getting started. Overwhelmed because there’s too much to do and too much unknown. We think we need to control every piece of it. It feels too hard, so we avoid it. We tell ourselves it has to be perfect, so the work never begins, or never gets done.

We waste time avoiding. We waste time perfecting. We waste time worrying. We waste time doing meaningless tasks that feel good in the moment but take us away from what matters. And the more we avoid, the bigger the task grows, the more anxiety builds, and the less time we have for what’s important.

The Gift and Opportunity

We can take the time we’ve been wasting and put it back into what matters. Overwhelm can shrink when we break things down smaller and smaller until a piece of it feels doable. Avoiding doesn’t make the task go away — it just grows — and we know that, so DO IT NOW (said in the voice of Arnold from Predator). Perfection isn’t required for almost anything, progress is. Almost nothing turns out the way we think it will anyway, which means we might as well get started and build it as we go.

We can stop the restlessness, stop the need to control every piece, stop chasing perfect, and reclaim some of the time we’ve been losing. Stop waiting to start and start!

The Practice of Self-Mastery

• Chunk the task down smaller and smaller until a piece of it feels doable, then begin.

• Notice when we are avoiding, perfecting, or worrying, and redirect our attention back to what matters.

• Focus on one important task instead of restlessly jumping from one thing to the next.

• Let “good enough” be good enough and move the work forward.