The Part of Perfectionism Everyone Struggles With
If I’m being honest with you, writing every day is hard.
Especially considering the parameters I gave myself.
Each post must:
- Be in my own voice
- Have my unique viewpoint
- Be quickly digestible
- Be actionable
When I committed to writing every day, I realized that this was big.
Coming up with a fresh concept, in my own words, that was easy to consume, and that also demanded a discrete action that could be achieved in 2 minutes or less is a pretty difficult challenge.
So, what happened?
Sometimes posts didn’t go out at the right time. I travel a lot so timezones have messed with my automated triggers that send out emails and tweets.
Sometimes I am finishing my workday at a weird hour and I’m exhausted—but I still have to write. It’s painful.
Sometimes I miss typos, fail to get the point across or make the post too short to really communicate the point.
Basically, I fail a lot.
And however much I fail, it feels like I’m failing 10 times that.
The point isn’t to make it perfect. Well, at least not today. Or tomorrow.
The point is to constantly approach the upper limit.
The point is to ride the asymptote of improvement as far over to perfect as I can.
The only way to do that is by writing, reviewing, adapting, testing, getting feedback, and writing again.
The other part is to accept that people are going to criticize what you’re doing, especially you. In fact, you are often your own worst critic.
This is the case for writing and it’s the case for everything else.
There’s no substitute for consistently doing the work.
And you’re not allowed to beat yourself up.
2 Minute Action
What’s something that you’ve been meaning to improve in your life?
- Exercise?
- Marketing your brand?
- Motivating your volunteers?
- Energizing your students in the morning?
Here are some things you can do right now in 2 minutes or less:
- Do burpees for 2 minutes straight. If you can’t, do 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.
- Send out an email to past clients and ask them to write a testimonial for your brand.
- Pick a measurable outcome that volunteers can see. If they can see how well they’re doing, they are more likely to improve.
- Google “fun facilitation exercises” like “rock, paper, scissors, posse.” You have the whole internet at your fingertips.
How To Create The Urgency To Live Your Dreams
No one has ever said, "man, I'm really glad I played it safe."
No one has ever said, "dang, I'm so happy with my decision to avoid risks."
No one has ever said, "I don't regret working my whole life on someone else’s project.”
So, assuming all goes well and you live a full-length life, what will you say at the end?
Some of you already know about my Death Bed Timer.
If you’re not familiar with how this works, you can check out the page on my website:
chrisdanilo.com/timer
Here’s the quick version:
I have done a quick and dirty estimate of how much time I think I’ve got left to live.
The idea wasn’t to calculate some super accurate timeline, the idea was to have a number that looked possible and watch it tick away every day.
By bringing this Death Bed Timer into my life, I’ve forced myself to look at the reality of my temporary existence.
It’s created urgency, which is something that motivates people to take action.
I urge you to make your own estimate and look your Death Bed Timer right in the face.
It will help you reprioritize things in your life.
Yes, admittedly, it’s a little stressful—but looking at this clock on a regular basis will push you from your comfort zone until you’re comfortable with being uncomfortable.
2 Minute Action
Do a quick estimate. How long do people like you usually live?
How long have you already lived?
Subtract.
Divide by months, weeks, or days to get the readout you want.
This 2 minutes could absolutely change your life.
How I Conquered Multiple 100 Hour Weeks In A Row
It was another 100-hour work week.In fact, it was the 5th one like it in a row.
I didn't think it was possible before I did it. How could it be?
At a 60-80 hour work week, you sacrifice the extras. You sacrifice things like social engagements, lunch hour, TV, and weekends.At an 80-90 hour work week, you sacrifice the basics. You sacrifice things like exercise, time with your family/partner, and the last of any personal time left.At the 90-100 hour week mark, you sacrifice the essentials, like sleep.Seems ridiculous to only have 5 hours of sleep per night for 5 weeks in a row, right?It is.
But there's so much more work to be done!
Does anyone else have a voice in their head that says this??Sometimes you can't work smarter. Sometimes the only person who can get it done is you!Guess what?
There is always an infinite amount of work.
If you are obsessed with social impact and making continuous improvements, you'll never get to a place where you've done enough work to stop working.Even if you somehow are the 1% of people that figure it out, if you're like me, you'll get bored really fast.
So, give up that idea.
Even retirement can stir up the urge to volunteer or be helpful in other ways.
The mantra of living a productive life focused on social impact is about being happy with the pace and intensity.
It's up to you to constantly push the comfort zone of your own intensity and pace. This means that if you're constantly pushing your comfort zone, you're never really in it.I think you get the point.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
You will not grow strong enough to achieve your dreams without internalizing this belief.Understand your needs for rest, relaxation, re-focusing and whatever else you need. It's your responsibility to understand yourself and take care of your needs.It's your responsibility to understand how much sleep you need to avoid making excessive, stupid mistakes.It's your responsibility to understand how much you can take on to maintain long-lasting productivity.It's your responsibility to understand your weaknesses and discomforts so you can conquer them and grow stronger.
2 Minute Action
What's a part of your job that makes you feel really uncomfortable?What's something you really are not looking forward to doing today?What's something that you've been avoiding for some time?You guessed it. Make it happen.You've got 2 minutes to set up the conversation, push the button, or ask that embarrassing question.Everyone has 2 minutes to take action.