Is this you? I certainly am guilty of it. You know, searching for an answer that will help you solve a problem, finding one, and setting off again to find another better, easier solution without diving in and fixing the problem. Not everyone seems to have this problem and if you don’t I admire you more than you can imagine.
It’s kind of a trap isn’t it – collection solutions but never implementing them. What are some ways to get out of this trap? I’m going to list some things off of the top of my head that might help.
Relax. Lighten up a little. You can keep looking if you want to, but it sure makes a lot of sense to work with what you have already found while you are still looking. Why not see what happens? Maybe the solution you just stored in your head would have been a GREAT solution and now it’s collecting cobwebs. If you want to chop down a tree, can’t you go ahead and start with the axe you already have? Maybe you will find a sharper axe, but in the mean time you can be working with what you have. Maybe the axe you already have is the best axe out there and you just don’t know it.
Write stuff down. Approach stuff like a scientist. If you read a book that says “do this, then this”, test it out for yourself. Don’t just store the info in your noggin for “later reference”. I do that ALL THE TIME!
Ease up on yourself. Give your solution time to work. Be patient. Get INTO the solution. Look at the calendar and NOT the clock.
A bookshelf crosses my mind. They aren’t going to read themselves. Fretting about which one to read first isn’t going to get them read. Again, relax a little. Be patient. Grab the one that seems the most interesting or useful at the moment and dive in. It bothers me sometimes that I won’t get to read all the great books. It bothers me that I won’t get to know those books really well. Same for music. How many symphonies would I love to recognize just by a phrase, but can’t? Fretting about it won’t do one single solitary thing about it and it is foolish, foolish, foolish feeling sorry for yourself for things that you absolutely cannot change. It is like fighting a ghost. Drop it. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Cry if you need to, then let it go. Now, dive into something worthwhile. Enjoy THAT book fully right now. Enjoy THAT song FULLY RIGHT NOW. If you are preoccupied, you are missing out foolishly. Isn’t really enjoying SOME great works far better than fretting about the ones you won’t get to enjoy. Won’t diving in make you WAY more fulfilled that sitting on the sideline and making a giant list of what you are missing out on?
I wish I were better at taking my own advice. I literally feel anxious right now as I am writing.
I am rambling on a bit, I know, but think about this. If you have read twenty books about _______ , then you probably know a pretty good bit about _______. Isn’t it time to pick up a book on some other subject? When it comes to a passion, sure, read book after book about your passion, but how many books about “this is how to fix x” do you need to read before you have a very good working knowledge about fixing x. It is time to fix x and stop reading ABOUT how to fix x.
Can’t we apply this to all areas of our life? Isn’t “excusitis” closely related. Isn’t this similar to eating the frogs? Think of efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is great; effectiveness is essential.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
— Gandalf, J.R.R. Tolkien
I’m Alright
Life Less Ordinary
