Moving the boulder.

It is appropriate that I should be writing a piece about new beginnings; and not because 2012 is around the corner! In an effort to create greater blog functionality I worked to migrate my November and early December blog posts over to my new wordpress blog (BDS Insight). Alas, a combination of late night efforts, some really noxious head cold symptoms, and a few uncharged batteries later and my brilliance from prior posts is no longer available!  It is unsettiling how connected to all my other work efforts this became; suddenly my twitter posts (@bdsinsight) were equally useless since they no longer linked to blog posts; suddenly engaging new followers was ever more challenging since there was little content I could entice them with for their efforts.  It wasn’t long before the task of creating new content as helpful and pithy as the prior posts became a daunting and aversive task.  Now reader you may be chuckling since my prior posts (insert urge to hyperlink to some non-existent archive here!) were frequently focused on acceptance and letting go.  Yep, turns out that is in fact HARD to do when it comes to one’s own professional efforts.

And it also turns out that the way around this is to just push through it.  Imperfection will have to prevail in this effort if there is ever to be content for the masses (or the lone reader-thank you!).  The same is true for every daunting effort.  The trick for writer’s block? To write.  The trick for creative ingenuity; try creating.  The trick for deadlocked team discussions; try doing.  Anything. Of whatever merit. And eventually there will be progress, productivity, and maybe even something of real value.  And even if there isn’t, the boulder has been moved an inch. There is no longer that nagging “oh, it is going to be so hard to do XYZ because I haven’t done it in so long”.  The aversion has slowly drained out of the task and with it some of the anxiety that comes from avoidance.  Ironic isn’t it, to do the thing we avoid is to, by its very nature, reduce the anxiety we have in doing it.  As you approach the next new beginning where might you try this ‘just do it’ approach in your work life? A task, a project, maybe even a conversation with someone you typically avoid? Exposure after exposure to the avoided task will not only result in greater familiarity and ease but will ultimately pave the way for that desired sense of accomplishment and comfort.  Get that boulder moving!