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The Two Biggest Myths About Action

Taking action has always terrified me. I hate making phone calls to my bank when I have noticed a mistake on my statement. I don’t even feel so great about calling to make a hair appointment. I can even be really bad about washing that final pan that just needs to soak for a bit.

So you can imagine how hard it might have been for me to start a blog and publish my first post on it.  If you thought that it might be paralyzing and that I would resist with all my might, you would be right.  I had read that it is always better to get a post done, even if it isn’t perfect.  I can always go back and edit it later.  This idea didn’t help me at all, since the fear is all about what you are going to think when you read it.  More specifically what you are going to think of me.  If it’s no good, well, there you go, I’m no good.

I cheated.  I wrote and published it, but didn’t let anyone know.  No chance for judgment.

I discovered some interesting things in the process.  I was still scared every time I went back to edit that first post.  I think I have made three edits so far.  Each time I hit the Publish button I felt a little sick inside.  It didn’t feel good until after I was done.

Myth number one:

Courage to create something and share it takes overcoming your fear.  

Anytime you share your creative work, you will probably still be afraid.  (If you aren’t, well, that is a topic for another post.) It’s just that no one admits how scared they are.  Not famous artists, not actors, not authors, no one I know of.  Okay, maybe Brene Brown.  (whom I love btw) It makes sense that for so many years as I have watched and admired creative people sharing their work, I assumed that because they had successfully shared, that it was easy for them.  Or had become easy for them. I’m guessing more often than not, I was wrong.

I also discovered these blog posts aren’t going to enter themselves. Action is critical to accomplishment, but not how I imagined. I have always thought about action as pushing through and forcing something. Probably I was always working on the wrong things.  Taking the steps to start this blog, write the posts didn’t feel hard at all once I started.

Myth Number Two:

Action is necessary but it is hard and requires force.

There is something I am defining as appropriate action that, albeit scary at times, flows naturally from us.  When I quiet my thoughts and let that my appropriate action bubble to the surface, the result is fantastic.  I mean that more literally.  I don’t mean that the result is really good, although it might be, I am saying that the amount of work that gets accomplished using this less than forceful method will seem like a fantasy.  Let it work for you, too.

Do What You Need To Do Not What You Should Do

I was recently watching a Youtube video from one of my favorite authors. She was describing how she does her research. She tends to engage, have conversations, take notes, roll around in it, as it were. Once she is finished, she holes herself away.  She stops talking to people. She skips her exercise routine.  She all but stops meditating. I found myself really relating to this idea and a light went off in my head. “That’s it!”, I thought. “That’s what would make me more successful: stopping all else, focusing, then getting ‘er done.”

So I began doing little else in the week leading up to creating this blog. I spent hours researching my platform choices, comparing costs, postponing my daily time on the treadmill. And I was getting things done. However, I felt a growing tightness in my shoulders. I started getting headaches on and off over the span of a couple of days. Even though I loved the idea of what I could create and was excited about the expansive feeling I get when I create something and share it, it was all starting to make me miserable. Finally, it got to be too much.   I thought, “Okay, an exercise break really is in order.” But even the thought of pushing myself to get on the treadmill felt like more pressure coming down on me.

So instead I decided to take a nap. I headed for my microsuede Euro-styled all-in-one modern futon and got into my preferred napping position.  On my side, with my favorite Indian pillow under my head I pulled a quilt over me and let the cat curl up behind my knees. I drifted off quickly, but not for long as I heard my phone dinging telling me either I had a text or was supposed to remember to do something. But before that I had successfully fallen asleep and dissolved all that tension. I decided to stay curled up for a minute or two just fully appreciating how good a nap can feel. Being warm and under the covers on a grey snowy January day in the Midwest. Now I was ready for the treadmill and the computer. I was back, energized, centered and happy to be alive, getting ready to do something good and actually feel good in the process. Before I made it into the workout room I realized, ” Hey, I don’t need to copy someone else to be successful. I just need to do what I think is next and what I feel is right. I headed upstairs and I finished my workout.  Then I sat down at my computer, created my blog and wrote this post. The fact is when I take the time to get clear and ask myself that important question, “What’s next?” I already know what to do and the order in which to do it. And so do you.

What’s Next?

I was recently watching a Youtube video from one of my favorite authors. She was describing how she does her research. She tends to engage, have conversations, take notes, roll around in it, as it were. Once she is finished, she holes herself away.  She stops talking to people. She skips her exercise routine.  She all but stops meditating. I found myself really relating to this idea and a light went off in my head. “That’s it!”, I thought. “That’s what would make me a successful author: stopping all else, focusing, getting ‘er done.”

So I began doing little else in the week leading up to creating this blog. I spent hours researching my platform choices, comparing costs, postponing my daily time on the treadmill. And I was getting things done. However, I felt a growing tightness in my shoulders. I started getting headaches on and off over the span of a couple of days. Even though I loved the idea of what I could create and was excited about the expansive feeling I get when I create something and share it, it was all starting to make me miserable. Finally, it got to be too much.   I thought, “Okay, an exercise break really is in order.” But even the thought of pushing myself to get on the treadmill felt like more pressure coming down on me.

So instead I decided to take a nap. I headed for my microsuede Euro-styled all-in-one modern futon and got into my preferred napping position.  On my side, with my favorite Indian pillow under my head I pulled a quilt over me and let the cat curl up behind my knees. I drifted off quickly, but not for long as I heard my phone dinging telling me either I had a text or was supposed to remember to do something. But I had successfully fallen asleep and dissolved all that tension. I decided to stay curled up for a minute or two just fully appreciating how good a nap can feel. Being warm and under the covers on a grey snowy January day in the Midwest. Now I was ready for the treadmill and the computer. I was back, energized, centered and happy to be alive, getting ready to do something good and actually feel good in the process. Before I made it into the workout room I realized, ” Hey, I don’t need to copy someone else to be successful. I just need to do what I think is next and what I feel is right. I headed upstairs and I finished my workout.  Then I sat down at my computer, created my blog and wrote this post. The fact is when I take the time to get clear and ask myself that important question, “What’s next?” I already know what to do and the order in which to do it. And so do you.

January 17

Today I’m grateful for:

4wd
Our heat wave
Having something to contribute
friends with tools
kaleidoscopes

December 23

Today I’m grateful for:

the whispy peach pink clouds against the pale blue dawn
comfortably cleaning out the car in December!
the winding road of my life
seeing where I’ve made a difference
planning a decadent breakfast with family