Putting On My Contact Lenses - Guest Post from Ernesto, my college thesis advisor and friend

Guest Post from Ernesto ("Dr. E"), my college thesis advisor and friend.
I thought this was particularly insightful - enjoy.

Putting on my contact lenses

The larger tasks that need to be done overwhelm us all sometimes. Common ways of reacting is procrastinating until the last moment. You know, the moment when it "absolutely needs to get done." Of course, being over achievers the tasks DOES get done, just not how we wanted it. We spent all night doing it, we missed special/important events (and, as a result, let some people down), or we drank more caffeine in those last days than the entire week. The important thing, we think, is that we got the task done. "I'll do it better next time," we say to ourselves. But, the reality is, that unless we don't have someone pushing us towards it, well, it's hard to change the habit.

Let me provide an example. Today I woke up and I did not feel like facing the cold New York day that awaited me. I was supposed to go to the gym, do 3 sets of squats, 3 sets of dead lifts, jog for 30 minutes, and do sit-ups. "That's not the bigger task at hand…getting to work and staying awake at work is," I told myself. "This can wait for after work," I convinced myself. So, I snoozed the alarm and went back to sleep for another hour. The alarm rang, and I was up and was suppose to get ready to go. Then, all the sudden, I panicked. The bigger task at hand, going to work, all the sudden overwhelmed me. I did a mental check off list of all the things I needed to do: shower, wash teeth, put contact lens on, iron shirt, brush hair, decide what shoes to wear, and what scarf to wear, etc. The more I thought about it, the more the list kept going. And, the bigger task, which seemed so simple from the beginning, now became an impossible thing to do. Since I have the option to work from home, I felt I could skip everything and just go right to work in my pajamas. The bigger task would be complete, I thought, and that would resolve everything. But, I chose something different.

"Okay, what do you need to do NOW to get to the larger task done?" I asked myself. Putting my contact lens was the obvious one (I can't see without them). And then, something "magical" happened. Everything started coming together. I was ready to walk out the door. But, then, I remembered that I forgot to eat! "There are several carts in NYC where you can pick up a bagel," I told myself. "You can forgive yourself for missing one thing, and it will cost you $1.50," I told myself and checked my wallet to see if I had the exact change (I couldn't waste time now).

Sometimes the larger tasks seem overwhelming because of our focus on the little things. If you start on the smaller and easy tasks, the larger task becomes easy to do. Doing the smaller tasks also lets you feel productive. And, most importantly, once you figure out that you CAN do this task at a faster pace, the larger task starts to come together.

My biggest task was probably my Ph.D. dissertation. The more I thought about it, the more I would overwhelm myself. Sometimes, time will help. But time can be tricky if there are no deadlines. The bigger tasks are sometimes easier to NOT pursue, and one learns to conform. Never conform, live up to the challenge, and be ready for the next big challenge one once you have accomplished the bigger goal. As for me, I will go to the gym after work...

DrE