The simple rule I built to avoid AVOIDING

Intellectualisation aka reading & doing jack-shit about it - is one of my strongest ego defense mechanisms. (Check out this post for a simple explanation of some of the common defense mechanisms we employ)

If you’ve ever read books on exercising, starting a business, writing a book, running, learning a language and not made much progress - you probably know what I mean. 

Wait… who reads a book on running? Yeah well, I kinda do. (Cue: Sheepish Grin)

Why do we do this?

You see, the problem with intellectualization, like other defense mechanisms, is that they prevent you from FEELING the pain & discomfort that comes from actually doing the things that matter.

Unfortunately though, avoiding the short term pain & discomfort leads to a lot more of it in the long term. But our brain doesn't get this.

How do you get around this? 

I spent a ton of time intellectualizing intellectualization — until it finally dawned on me that this wasn’t a THINKING problem. It was a FEELING problem. DUH!

The solution is quite simply accepting and even embracing the pain and discomfort. 

The best part? If you love learning like I do, you can use that to set up a reward for yourself too!

Here’s a simple rule I have: The first version has to be done without any reading. 

You write like crap? No worries. Write a crappy draft. 

Can’t run to save your life? Welcome to the club. (And thank god you aren’t in prehistoric times, you’d be eaten alive buddy)

First, focus on DOING whatever you’re doing REAL bad. 

Don’t care about how much you suck. In fact, the more you suck at it, the more rewarding the growth will be. 

The only measure in this phase is QUANTITY of output. 

Efficiency, Effectiveness are all reserved for the next stage. 

And when you’ve put in the work, you’ve EARNED the right to spend time learning. 

(Sidebar: it’s part of a larger mindset shift - shifting from just WANTING something to EARNING what you want) 

Case in point: 

When I wanted to start running, I wanted to spend time learning from Danny Dreyer. I set myself up to run consistently for 30 days, whatever the distance. And when I hit ~2km per day… all the while panting like I was about have a mini heart attack - I knew it was time to actually learn from him.

Tell me what area you do this in? And how you can turn it around right away! (If it's something you're resisting for a while, you can feel your mind getting a bit anxious -- that's a great sign!)