Starting Small

Neil Rosenstech

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Torpor can be a real killer. But not the kind of killer that shoots you in the face, comes after you with an axe or pushes you off a bridge. Rather it is death by 1,000 needles. One needle on it's own isn't going to do all that much and make not even be noticed. 10 needles won't be a good time but it's hardly something to go to the hospital about. We really would start to pay attention at 100. 1,000 is another story all together.

I think that this is laziness in a nutshell. In the grand context of your life staying up until 1am watching reruns of Captain Planet  when you need to be working on a project isn't likely to alter the course of your life drastically.

However, if you do this enough times several things may start to happen. The most apparent thing is that the project won't get done. The book chapter doesn't get written. The song doesn't get recorded. The bread doesn't get baked.

What this also means is that because you didn't write that science fiction novel other people won't get to read it. No one will get to listen to the indie rock song that is tangled in your head. No one will enjoy that loaf of sourdough rye that you read about on someone else's blog.

And perhaps worst of all is that you lose credibility with yourself. Doing this chronically sends a message to yourself that you are not to be fully trusted or depended upon when you say that you will be at the Asian Art Museum on Saturday for the tattoo exhibit or that you will not eat anything after 8pm. Yet in the end you don't go and you eat Skittles instead.

I recall hearing a story about the Dalai Lama and some other monks giving a question and answer session. One audience member asked them about the issue of self hatred and loathing. They started whispering amongst themselves. They whispered with the translator. The whispered amongst themselves again. Finally they confessed that they didn't understand the question. What exactly is self hatred? More discussion ensued and finally a definition that made sense to the panel was produced. They were stunned. People feel this way?

I don't have a solution to this. I have an arsenal of tips and tricks from not allowing myself to hit the snooze button to documenting the habits I want to change to meditating twice a day. However, at the end of the day I have to remind myself that while it is okay to get excited about a new productivity journal or an accountability pal they are just tools. And the thing about tools is that if you don't pick them up and use them they don't help you. I get so excited about the potential of a tool that sometimes I forget the point of it in the first place.

Is this the issue with people who buy books that they never read?

Just get started. The lights will never all be green and you'll likely not be properly prepared but just get started.

Jump and the net will appear.