On December 31st, the Well desk of The New York Times published an article titled, “Your Best Advice of 2022”
While a number of offerings caught my attention, the one that’s stayed with me is:
“When your wrench is on the nut, tighten it.”
The article goes on to say, “In other words, if you’re already touching a piece of mail, deal with it. If you see a thing you’ll need soon, buy it now. If an uncomfortable conversation comes up, have it rather than deflecting it.”
Why did this speak to me?
Because, in my experience, the dreading of doing something is much worse than the doing of it.
Not to mention—more often than not—the doing takes about half the time I imagined it might (and that’s without factoring in all the time lost to dread.)
If this approach feels like one more thing you need to be in charge of, I offer you a slogan my brother learned in the Marine Corps:
“Do it, Delegate it, or Delete it”
In other words, if you don’t feel like tightening the nut yourself, hand the wrench to someone else—or take the decision not to let it take up space in your brain. Choose to move your thoughts along.
Regardless of your approach, I recommend removing dread from your workbench in 2023.
For a look at the many, many ways we procrastinate, take a look at “Procrastination: a Love Story”
