Sometimes A Project Feels Like:
It’s Just Too Much!”
April 04, 2012
Right now I’ve got a very large project on my hands. There’s an old part of me, the procrastinator that used to inhabit my mind who’s practically standing on one of my shoulders. He’s yelling in my ear, “Give up because it’s going to take too much time! And, “This is so frustrating! Who has time for this?” and he’s also saying, “It shouldn’t take this long! This is so unfair!”
The personal changes that I’ve gone through, from how I once was and into who I am now has been remarkable—but I haven’t finished growing. Even more important, I’m not allowing myself to fall back into old ways.
When I find myself in a situation like this, I know the most important thing I can do is to stop thinking, acting, and living my life like I’m a victim. I need to stop telling myself, “This is so unfair!”
Instead, I need to take action. The first thing I need to do is to construct a plan. “Plan your work, and work your plan!” The way to do that is by making a reasonable guess as to how long my project is going to take. Whether that’s ten hours, or 25 hours, or 50 hours; I need to make a reasonable guess as to how long it’s probably going to take.
Even if I determined that the project was going to take 80 hours, at the very least I can then start figuring out how long that 80 hours is going to take to get done. You see, as a procrastinator I could easily stretch out that 80-hour project so that it takes an entire year to get done. Or, as a former procrastinator I could try to get that 80-hour project completed in two or three weeks. The completion of the project and the time that it takes to reach it is entirely up to me.
Listening to your mind’s negative internal chatter is a waste of time and energy. What do you do when your mind works against you that way? Have you been successful in combating your mind’s negative internal chatter? Care to share your thoughts? Please do.
