I don’t know about you, but I often look at my to-do list with a sense of dread. I often wonder what to do when you dread doing. I think to myself that completing these tasks is going to take more time and energy than I have so I just quit.

I am a bullet journalist and this means that i move the task(s) I dread to the next day, and the next, and then I can’t avoid it any longer.

And then I do it, and find out that can check it off in minutes.

Why was it so insurmountable before?

Because I was in thinking mode, not in doing.

Thinking mode can ruin anything

Let’s say you have to see a doctor or a dentist and dread is in your bones

Your mind spins with all sorts of doom scenarios. You drag your feet when you go in.

And then, after a short time, it’s over and, crisis averted, you can go about  your day.

As a child I was particularly bad at dreading appointments. I made up the worst doom scenarios, thinking that I had to do it to have a positive experience.

Bloody exhausting!

And it happened (and still does) without really being aware what I was doing.

So, how does one stop?

By doing.

I’ve set out to consciously do tasks my mind is avoiding. I break them down if needed and then just aim to check things off.

And I found that most of the time, things were so easy to do.

Catching up on admin? An hour, tops. I spent way more time dreading it.

Phone calls and emails? Half an hour and done.

Editing a couple of tiny poems? Done in no time at all.

It isn’t always that easy to get myself into doing mode. Sometimes, I take a lot of time to pick the first task.

But when I enter doing mode, nothing can stop me.

Not even dread.