What Scary Monster Is Hiding Under Your Bed?
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Perfection is the enemy of progress. Over the last two years, I've written nearly 200,000 words. That's enough to fill an 800-page book. Yet, if you had sat me down with the expectations of churning out a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by years end, I would have had a melt-down. Hell, there's a lot of weeks where putting out this blog feels like I'm trying to tackle a giant.
There are days where my mind bounces around more than a jumpy castle at a six-year old's birthday. It feels impossible to bring my mind to a focus. I will go to great lengths to avoid work. It's fueled by the feelings that dance between the excitement of challenge and the paralyzing fear of failure. The latter shutting down all creative possibilities.
As author Joseph Campbell urges us, it's also about seeing that, "Opportunities to find our deeper powers come when life seems most challenging.”
You might not be able to write a book in a day, but you can sure as hell write a sentence or two.
I felt like giving up on today's blog post. The ego loves to play the trick that it's much easier to do nothing.
But, is it really? What does that prove to yourself when you give up when it's challenging? As author James Clear reminds us, "You can't guarantee success, but you can guarantee failure: never try."
What scary monster is hiding under your bed?
Showing up is the hardest part and for damn good reason. You're forced to check your ego at the door and expose yourself to all those squirmy and uncomfortable feelings that come from doing work that scares the shit out of you.
I chose to take a smaller bite of the monster today. The win is in showing up.
What's one little bite-sized chunk you could take out of your monster today?
Adam Devine grew up in a modest midwest family with the mentality that a stable living is far more important than chasing your dreams, but after surviving a terrible accident when he was 11 his parents loosened the rope on their expectations for his life.
Why do we put off decisions that could give us a better future? I've been at that crossroads many times in my life. Whether it was a decision to start my own business, launch a podcast or even ask my partner to marry me. I knew all three of these decisions would give me a better life. But in the back of my head, all I could think about is what if I ended up being a colossal failure?