How to complete the important work you are avoiding right now

A lot of us are struggling to get important work done. Many of my current coaching conversations are about distraction, personal motivation, and focus. This has always been an issue of course, but post-pandemic layers of fatigue and overwhelm are compounding the problem.

This often means instead of doing important work, we do ‘busy work’ or, worse, no ‘work’ at all! This is a personal performance problem, but, more importantly, a?personal growth problem! We need new levels of thinking, creativity, leadership, and problem-solving - and they are unlikely to be found if we are just going through the motions.

To lead ourselves and our businesses in tougher times and to take advantage of the many opportunities that our disrupted new world offers, we have to be on our game. Getting stuck in low-level (but untaxing) tasks, or distracted by the latest shiny thing or online diversion is not enough - and robs us of our ability to thrive.

?Do the Work

My go-to resource for solving this funk of mind and body is ‘DO THE WORK’, by Steven Pressfield.

?The book discusses the things that stop us from doing ‘Important Work’ - i.e. the work we know we need to do. It could be a work project, something physical, perhaps building a culture, a community, or a creative project.

Pressfield states that ‘you will know what your ‘WORK’ is’. (Right now, mine is working on a significant secret project for 2023)! If you don’t know, it probably means you are stuck or (worse) drifting.

?You need to go and find your WORK.

?And then you must DO IT!

By definition, your WORK will never be easy!

Pressfield says WORK is;

“Any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity”

You will always meet Resistance?

Whatever your WORK is, there is a force that rises to oppose your completing it. The book calls it ‘Resistance’. It takes many forms, including;

?self-doubt,

distraction,

denial,

procrastination,

fear of failure,

fear of success

This can look like you hiding in your intelligence, status (where no one challenges you), and habits - when instead you need to jump in and take?primitive immediate action.

You can also be discouraged by colleagues, friends, and family who don’t want you to change (because doing important work changes us).

Sound Familiar?

If any of this resonates, it’s because Pressfield’s ‘Resistance’ lives inside all of us. It is what stops all of us – if we let it.?

And there, of course, is the rub -?if we let it.?Because, deep down, behind all the excuses or ‘too busy, ‘I need more time, ‘not the right time,?we know that we are choosing not to do the work we know we need to do.?

As we move towards the end of 2022, is it time to tackle your ‘Resistance’??

?Overcoming Resistance

You do this by building your allies to get the work done. Pressfield calls these;

Stupidity

Stubbornness

Blind faith

Passion

Assistance (the opposite of ‘Resistance’)

Friends and family (I know – weren’t they also part of the problem??

Help will come

As a final thought, it’s important to realize you will not be alone on your journey to get important work done - but you must leap.??

You will need to commit.?

Courage is rewarded. As mountaineer W.H. Murray wrote:

?“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

?Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

?What’s your important WORK?

I know many smart, driven and hard-working people who have found 2022 surprisingly challenging. It has not been what most of us expected or hoped for. The toll of two years of lockdown et al is slowly becoming apparent. I work with many clients and teams who feel in some way stuck, dispirited, or fatigued.?

‘Doing ‘Important Work’ is hard, but I believe an antidote to all of this. The satisfaction of completing challenging work to create teams, projects, and movements of breakthroughs is immense - and gives us the energy and inspiration to go again.?

What’s your important WORK?

I’d love to know. Just reply to this with the details. Maybe acknowledging it in writing is the first step to making it a reality.