Sometimes we wonder, it is just a phone call, a status report or a page full of expenditures (accounts), yet we have avoided it for so far too long. Why?
Because when we judge an act by the act itself, we miss the energy behind it. And therefore we underestimate the effort involved. To a boss, a status report might be just a number they want to see regularly, but to an employee, it may mean a promotion or dire consequences. These consequences relate to their family life, which is affected by their job. If they do not get the promotion ... the spouse becomes resentful ... and that brings up feelings of rejection from the past ... and that brings up a family history where the people of the family have faced hardship and so on.
To face such situations:
1. Give it the energy due:
The most critical error we make is underestimating the effort. We think that filing taxes is just about the task itself. So we do not allocate enough time or energy and consequently, when we do sit down to complete the task, it does not finish in time, and we have to move on to other things that we have scheduled. Do not underestimate the effort involved in an action. If it is taking time, then do not think it is a trivial task.
2. Measure how much energy it will take:
How much time has passed since you decided to do it? 1 year ... it means that the energy required is immense. You will have to concentrate your efforts if you wish to complete it. Put greater focus and energy. If we realistically observe the energy behind an action, our probability of completing it goes up and even if we do not complete it, the self-incrimination is not that much.
3. Disassociate your perception of progress from the actual results:
Measure your progress in a different way instead of on whether the work actually got done.
My get-assignments Done article has a good example of measuring progress that disassociates results from action. This way, you can make progress. Keep encouraging yourself at each complete step you take. Take smaller steps, but keep going.
Word of caution: This is an internal process - you cannot claim in a workplace that you 'put in the effort'. If most people had this level of understanding of the energy behind work, they would not be asking you questions in the first place :).
Stay positive, and keep going! If you stay focused on victory, it will come to you. Taking longer to do it is not wrong. It is just being honest about what it means to you.
Because when we judge an act by the act itself, we miss the energy behind it. And therefore we underestimate the effort involved. To a boss, a status report might be just a number they want to see regularly, but to an employee, it may mean a promotion or dire consequences. These consequences relate to their family life, which is affected by their job. If they do not get the promotion ... the spouse becomes resentful ... and that brings up feelings of rejection from the past ... and that brings up a family history where the people of the family have faced hardship and so on.
To face such situations:
1. Give it the energy due:
The most critical error we make is underestimating the effort. We think that filing taxes is just about the task itself. So we do not allocate enough time or energy and consequently, when we do sit down to complete the task, it does not finish in time, and we have to move on to other things that we have scheduled. Do not underestimate the effort involved in an action. If it is taking time, then do not think it is a trivial task.
2. Measure how much energy it will take:
How much time has passed since you decided to do it? 1 year ... it means that the energy required is immense. You will have to concentrate your efforts if you wish to complete it. Put greater focus and energy. If we realistically observe the energy behind an action, our probability of completing it goes up and even if we do not complete it, the self-incrimination is not that much.
3. Disassociate your perception of progress from the actual results:
Measure your progress in a different way instead of on whether the work actually got done.
My get-assignments Done article has a good example of measuring progress that disassociates results from action. This way, you can make progress. Keep encouraging yourself at each complete step you take. Take smaller steps, but keep going.
Word of caution: This is an internal process - you cannot claim in a workplace that you 'put in the effort'. If most people had this level of understanding of the energy behind work, they would not be asking you questions in the first place :).
Stay positive, and keep going! If you stay focused on victory, it will come to you. Taking longer to do it is not wrong. It is just being honest about what it means to you.
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