Do the work.

We are creatures of comfort, so we avoid pain like the plague.

“Comfort” food. Fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, each with an extra dose of butter. We know it’s not “good” for us, but we do it anyways. And it tastes damn good in the moment, but the extra lbs. and other adverse effects add up over time. Heart Disease remains the primary cause of death in our country. Quite literally, you are what you eat, and our instant gratification by way of sugar and processed carbs probably has something to do with Heart Disease’s reign.

My sweet tooth is like a black hole. Last night, after a big dinner, I ate a cupcake, and then another, and then some fudge, and then some more. Damn, it all tasted good going down, but the indulgence was fleeting. Did I feel better after having done so? Hell no.

Instant gratification is avoidance of pain. We trade the pain and suffering needed to endure a long term course of action for immediate (and futile) reward out of fear that whatever the alternative is, it’ll be too hard and require too much commitment.

“I don’t have time for that kind of commitment.”
“That won’t be worth my time.”
“Why would I do that when I can enjoy what I already have?”

As I sit here writing this, my monkey mind is constantly coming up with a new excuse to stand up and stop doing my work. The kitchen is only a few steps away… I could go grab a snack, even though I ate breakfast like an hour ago. Or maybe a cup of coffee, even though I have a glass of water right next to me and I don’t need (or really even want) any more caffeine. Maybe I’ll flip over the laundry – I’m just waiting for the dryer to ding. Then I can put the freshly washed sheets on my bed.

Anything to keep me from doing my work. Away from confronting the pain and fear of it. The fear that it won’t be good enough. The fear that I don’t have anything to say of value to other people. The pain I have to endure to prove to myself that I have what it takes to actually produce something. That I have what it takes to make a meaningful contribution to and connection with something bigger than myself.

I’ve been running a lot recently, and ironically, I’m kinda writing this as a means of avoiding the pain of my training. Training is supposed to suck, and it definitely does. The hardest part about it is starting. Lacing up the shoes, starting the timer on my watch. I thought I’d rip some thoughts onto paper first, partly to prolong the inevitable. But once I get going, (most of the time) there’s wind in my sails and it’s over before I know it.

Steven Pressfield says that an artist with a vision is so focused on their work that the “sculptress and the tree-climbing tyke both look up blinking when Mom calls, ‘Suppertime!'” I’ve been tutoring high-school Physics recently, and on multiple occasions, I’ve been so concentrated that I’ve lost track of time. Just like the tree-climbing tyke, the scheduled time for the session has passed without me noticing. The “runner’s high” is similar. In process, we are channeling something bigger than ourselves, without any mind for the finish line. Just like the Bhagavad Gita says – we have a right to our labor, not the fruits of it.

The writing is hard enough itself – why endure more hardship with training for a marathon? Because the pain never stops. We are constantly confronted with things that we don’t want to do. We can circle back to our comfort zone and avoid the pain of confrontation, or we can barrel into obstacles head on and prove to ourselves that we can overcome private, personal adversity, to find meaning in something bigger than ourselves along the way.

When I ship something, it might be a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. I’m 1% better than the day before. 1% stronger. 1% more confident in my ability to continue to confront pain and fear.

Whatever it is that comes through us, it is never going to be perfect. It’s better that we share whatever it is without fear of what others think than to spend countless hours tweaking here and there.

In the words of James Clear, “there are no artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, or scientists who became great by half-finishing their work.”

DO THE WORK!!!