"What Would This Look Like If It Was Easy?"
Ernesto Gutierrez, MD
I help millennial dads become the man their children look up to. | Retired physician who chose purpose over practice | Heroic Coach & creator of AtlasOS | Full-time Dad and Husband
I've been sitting in front of my laptop for 20 minutes trying to come up with something to write about today.
I have my endless idea generator. I have a list of topics. I have questions my clients have asked recently. Yet I cannot get myself to write something.
"Why is this so goddamn hard?"
As I sat here pondering that question I realized it's only hard because I'm making it hard.
I choose to complicate things. I choose to not start writing right away and instead begin "planning" my essay. If you're like me you know what it's like… Trying to make efficient a process you have yet to start.
And so, after a minute or two of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to ask myself a better question.
"The quality of your life is determined by the quality of the questions you ask yourself." – Tony Robbins
Immediately, the question that popped into my head was: "what would this look like if it was easy?"
The answer?
Stop thinking so much about the outcome and focus on the process.
Ever since I began writing a daily essay, I've wanted others to read it. And hopefully engage with it. I've learned about writing headlines, hooks, "scroll-stoppers", etc. And every day I've not-so-secretly hoped people would like and perhaps share my work with their audience.
But today when I asked myself this question I realized that the whole point of writing every day is…?writing every day!
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It's not about the outcome but about the writing.
And I immediately remembered this interview of olympic athlete Alexi Pappas (look at 1:36:50)
In it she talks about the rule of thirds:
"When you're chasing your dreams, you're going to feel crappy a third of the time. And this is normal. If you're always feeling good, you're not pushing yourself hard enough." - Alexi Pappas
Frankly, the last few days have certainly been more on the "crappy" and the "ok" thirds.
But I've kept showing up.
And the good news is the new cohort for Ship30 is setting sail on August 8th. And you can bet your behind I'll be onboard to score some days on the "good" third.
This post was first published on my website: drernestomd.com
I help new international medical graduates transition into the US Healthcare System by developing confidence, accuracy, and clarity in their interactions with patients and colleagues | English Communication Coach
2 年I love this, Ernesto! Thanks for sharing. I agree that sometimes, we put too much pressure on ourselves to be good, when we just need to show up for ourselves.