Week 2, Day 11

Week 2: Taking Action

Day 11: Just Go to the Shed

Summary: We all have things, tasks and projects that we spend a lot of time, effort and anxiety trying to avoid. All these things can turn into rats that are forever gnawing on our peace of mind. In self-help literature we are often told to “face our fears” or alternatively to tackle the project a little bit at a time. Burkeman suggests that we instead befriend our rats and turn our fears into something friendly and less scary that we can then tackle when we feel like it

My favorite go-to for large projects is to break it into smaller chunks. That is how I get the rooms in my house painted and my closets organized. Sometimes I decide to dedicate an hour a day to a difficult or dreary task until it’s done. I usually find that the dread I experienced before starting the task is much larger than doing it. As a result, I wasn’t sure what I was avoiding and decided to do some thinking. Oh dear. Lifting a few rocks revealed all kinds of slimy snakes slithering around.

Homework: Try to befriend at least one item I’m avoiding.