Tags
Abraham Lincoln, Paralysis by Analysis, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Stephen Guise, Walt Disney, Worry
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” Walt Disney
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/walt_disney_100644
As you’ll see below, I’m reading another Stephen Guise book. This one is called How to be an Imperfectionist. It’s a great book and will help you get unstuck, particularly if you are a perfectionist and worried about all the bad things that could happen to you if you start doing this or that before you even start!
I didn’t realize how much of a perfectionist I was until I began reading this book. If nothing else, this book will motivate you to just start something, instead of wasting time worrying about things that may or may not happen in the process. Just get on with it already!
I think this is an important point. How many dreams do you have? What goals would you like to begin but haven’t? How many projects are you still thinking about doing? Just get moving on them. This is easier said than done, I know.
Paralysis by analysis is the best description I can give in this regard. It is overthinking. It is over-worrying, it is planning for doom when you haven’t even started. It’s all those things that cause you to pause before you do anything.
You want to learn to draw—do it! You want to find a companion—get out there! You want to write that book—get on with it! Seriously, folks. Stop thinking about all the problems you’re going to have and just get moving on your projects. This is really liberating.
If this is you—read this book: How to be an imperfectionist, Stephen Guise. It’s the best $5.99 you’ll ever spend. I’m still reading the book but will finish it before the weekend is out. I’ve already begun doing the things I wanted to do without reading his book, but you guessed it—I was one of those folks that would talk about doing this or that and never get off the ground. Now, I am pursuing all of it. Life is so much better when you just get on with what you want to do and stop worrying so much about outcomes. Enjoy the ride!
One of the things I say to myself when I am about to do something that is on the edge of my comfort zone, is: The Adventure Begins. This is something I picked up in the Army. This statement was a psychological trigger that caused me to instantly focus on soldiering and forget about the girlfriend or wife I was leaving, the comforts of home I would be missing out on. This triggered my alter-ego—the soldier who was tough as nails focused on the mission, come hell or high water. The Adventure Begins is a great way to tackle some of your high-stress, high-angst projects. Just get started, folks. You will feel so much better when you do.
You can even read about Walt Disney’s life if you want. Heck, read about Lincoln too. Both men dealt with serious setbacks and accomplished great things. They looked at the situation, put together a plan and did the best they could as they went along. In the end, they went down in history as men who did things no one else could do or wanted to do. They took life as it came and dealt with all the problems and issues facing them.
Were their solutions perfect? No. They were just solutions, wrought with problems, disappointments, and challenges. They moved forward day-by-day and, in the end, accomplished great things. You don’t need to be a Walt Disney or Abraham Lincoln to do the same.
Here’s what I’ve done this week:
Exercise Program:
Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size – (www.bodybuilding.com) – I’ve done this workout before and returning to it because it is just a good all-around weight routine. It’s 8 weeks in length, a 4-day split with 3 rest/cardio days mixed in.
Books:
Armor, Steakley – Recommended by an Army Buddy. Wow! What a terrific book! If you like outer space stuff, you’ll like this book. Great action, lots of twists and turns in the plot, and such a great climax at the end.
Mini-habits for weight loss, Guise – Finished this book in a day. It has some great advice on weight loss, particularly the suggested mini habits to get your program jump-started. If you’d like to leave the Yo-Yo diet world and start something that helps you change for the long-term, this is your book.
How to be an Imperfectionist, Guise – Yep, I’m on a Stephen Guise kick right now. He has written some other books and I’m going to read all of them. All his books are reasonably priced (around $5.99 for the kindle version). If you like mini-habits, his first book, you’ll enjoy the rest. They all read the same but have some different ideas. I’ll write a review once I’m finished.
Classes:
De-mystifying Mindfulness Course – Coursera – One of the largest disadvantages of the Coursera platform is the timing. I like moving through a course at my own pace. I lost interest in this course when I was forced to stop doing anything for it for over a week. I am now concentrating on one of my life goals—to learn how to write code.
Codecademy – I’m currently learning how to use Atom, a text editor that can compile your code. It is free and was developed on Git Hub. I am still working with HTML and CSS, but now am working on projects that have little to no step-by-step hand-holding. This project is a basic website and the code is all my own. I really enjoy this stuff. This is particularly fun because it is really testing my ability to generate code on my own, just like a typical developer would, working with images, a technical spec, and that’s it. This is a real kick!
Documentaries:
Looking for one that interests me.
Movies:
Haven’t found any movies that have intrigued me enough to watch.
Fun:
Ozark – Netflix – Season 2 – Ok, they did a good job with this. I won’t give you any spoilers, other than it is just as good as Season 1. I highly recommend this one. If you haven’t watched Ozark, you’ll want to add this one to your watchlist.
Homecoming (Amazon) – This is a thriller with Julia Roberts. I really enjoyed it and blew through it in a few days. What I liked most was the shortness of the episodes (around 20 minutes or so). There is also a very interesting cinematic effect you’ll see when you watch it. I won’t give it away here. All I can say is this is another series worth the watch.
Interesting Apps:
Toon Blast – Every once in a while, I come across an entertaining game app. This one is a match game of sorts but very entertaining.
Until next time…
Dave
