I have set out this week to meet a specific and measurable objective. I have tried to think of all the obstacles that could come up. I have a plan for dealing with them and a defined strategy. This sounds like success!? Right?
That is until you start doing it. First day goes great. Second day you start to see the cracks in your plan. That is what happened to me yesterday. I did not get what I wanted completely done. When I got back to my hotel room I had to face the existential question. Do I work on my strategy or chill out?
I decided to do both. Which is always the best advice when you have the “druthers.” I would rather do anything except for the task that I need to do. So, I did a small increment and then I took the rest of the night off. What actually happened is that once I got started on the task, I actually liked it and ended up finishing. That is always what happens. The start is always the hardest.
I woke up this morning with a bunch on my plate. I have at least 10 meetings today and several of them back to back this morning. This causes a bit of anxiety and as a consequence my mind starts to slip. Why? This is a phenomena that I cannot explain. I have read up on it a lot and most people experience it. As I work through the day, it will not be bad at all. In fact most meetings will go well, positive outcomes reached. The prospect of work is always worse than the actual work.
I have had some difficult conversations lately. Anytime you are asking people to change, the conversation is uncomfortable. Anytime you are trying to get someone to give you money, that is not and should not be easy. If you can get people to transfer you money without much effort than something is wrong. You might say, well if you have an awesome product it will sell itself! I find that true only with low cost products and in that case if you have to talk to someone you are in trouble. Usually if you are selling a low value, easy to sell product, you do not want human to human interaction. That is too expensive. Rather, I like to sell high value things that need a high level of human interaction to gain the value transfer. So if the conversation is difficult, this is a good sign. Usually the most difficult conversations provide you the best reward. Even though they do not feel that way at the time.
For all these reasons, my mind has ample opportunity to spiral into negativity. Oh, why did I say that. Oh, I do not want to do that. Oh, I have too much to do today. Oh, I will never get all this done. Oh, I did not get my task done yesterday, it is over. These are common thoughts. You are not alone if you are having those types of thoughts. Most people do. Do not let the super confident, ultra ego, extrovert convince you otherwise. They are the ones that have these thoughts the worst. They figured out how to flip a switch and force positivity.
There in lies the answer. We overcome this mental paralysis, with positivity. Even if we have to force it. Stop yourself before the mental spiral starts. Wake yourself up and ask, demand that you get yourself into a positive state of mind. Pull every trick in the book out. Go outside. Go walk. Go Run. Listen to Megadeth. Kidding. Listen to anything that will get you going. Write a blog (that is what I do). Stop allowing yourself to paint a picture that is completely false. Most negative views are coming from inside your own head. Stop the madness. Stop listening to that voice. Force Positivity.
