The Easiest thing to do in the World

The Easiest thing to do in the World

What’s the easiest thing in the world to do. Think about it for a second.

The easiest thing to do is quit. It’s so simple, just drop whatever challenge or even non-challenge you are doing and give up.

You feel free for a second (“yeah more time to sleep!) but then you feel guilty. Doesn’t matter what it is, you’ll feel guilty for quitting.

The curse of “us humans” is we immediately justify it in some way.

Recently, I tried cooking Tuna and Noodles…out of a box! And halfway through it I just started telling myself “Just throw it away, Sam’s the cook, you suck. Go get some Fast Food, it’s yummier and lazier!” I would tell myself these things, justifying quitting.

Sam’s the cook, not me. I stopped myself, realizing what I was doing in my head. We do this all the time, and it’s toxic, but it’s easy.

I trudged through it and ended up with something that didn’t look anything like the box, but tasted better because I “created” it (mass produced creation.) To anyone else, it would probably taste like slimy seafood, but to me it was good….erh…acceptable. But I finished.

That’s what counts. Especially with small things, it’s easy to throw in the towel, and at first you feel guilty, but the toxicity comes into play down the line because the more you quit the less guilty you feel.

Meditate long and hard at the things you quit at. The things you quit at are the things you are afraid of, and the things you are afraid of are the things you should do.

Exercising is the best example of that, but what other things are you afraid of? I’m not talking about the dark or heights, but what you should do whether this year or the rest of your life.

Start small, I’m all about small things….

I’ll work on this with you, what small things pull at you all the time you are afraid to do?

Just today, I didn’t want to go talk to one of my coworkers I don’t know very well yet and my quitter voice was saying “Just email him/her, it’s so much easier.” But one of my goals since moving is to open myself up more to new people and sharpen my social skills. I took a second and without thinking anymore about it (because as humans we over-think everything), I marched over and said hello.

It’s something small, tiny to some people, but little steps lead to bigger and bigger steps. Now, I feel much more comfortable going up to not just them but others in the office as well. With these gradual steps, soon I’ll never even have my initial nervous thought every again!

The problems is we blow off those little things as “Oh, it’s nothing.” Thus, after a while you keep building a worse mindset on everything as being “Oh, it’s nothing.” Whether it’s with savings (“Oh $10 a week is nothing, there’s no point in saving that little) to sending an email to an executive to meet (“Oh they won’t want to talk to me so no harm to me.”), or keeping at their blog (“Oh no one read it, it’s nothing if I quit.”).

It adds up so easily and so quickly we don’t even notice.

The easiest thing to do is quit, but you can slowly use “little hacks” to get out of the Qu

Action Steps:

• Think about little things everyday you worry about or scare you, think little.
• Reflect on little things you can do now you feel could have a big effect later.
• Write them down (optional: I write down short and long term goals & ideas, but that’s all I can keep track up. Some people, like Sam, love writing everything down and that’s awesome for her and perhaps you too!)
• Try just once a week to go do something little that scares you or you should try. Perhaps getting out of your cube and saying hi to another, or try automatic investing into a savings or investment account. Try it!

Picture : Flickr