As I unlocked my dark office this morning with a Monster Rehab in hand, exactly 7 hours after I left last night, I realized that the way I felt seemed oddly familiar.
I was tired and foggy-headed, overwhelmed at the task in front of me. I read back through my notes from the evening before, struggling to recall exactly what I needed to do.
And then it hit me:
I don’t have to figure it all out right now. Just take the next step.
I can handle that.
I made minor edits to a spreadsheet. Then, I started an outline for our presentation slides. Then, I keyed data into Excel, knowing it was the foundation for the charts that were stumping me.
Soon, I was in a groove.
The outline came together. The charts snapped into place. I was nearly finished eating the elephant, and only two hours had passed.
I realized that my long distance runs had been the perfect training for this.
There comes a point in nearly every run where I enter the fog. I realize that the finish line is still far away, and I begin to question exactly how I’ll get there. The conditions are never perfect. I worry about what might happen when I encounter the next obstacle.
Twice, I’ve given in and quit. Something really was wrong.
All the other times, my mind has settled down. It runs through a checklist with the rest of my body, confirming that there’s no reason for alarm. And then it does what it’s been trained to do – put one foot in front of the other, over and over again.
The same is true for financial projects. I needed to let my training take over, focusing on only the next step.
The anxiety wasn’t necessary. Once I got started, it was all downhill.
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What’s your next step? How soon can you take it?
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