Digging A Big Hole In Your Backyard Is Like Harvesting Dopamine

#231: Is It Really That Bad?

Resistance, as Steven Pressfield describes it, is the bane of my existence. For some reason, my brain keeps looking for ways to distract itself from the task at hand. This happens even when I know what’s the most important task to finish. Sometimes, it happens even when I know that there’s no avoiding it. That I will have to do said task sooner or later.

As it turns out, many writers struggle with the same thing. It’s a weird, irrational phenomenon that probably has something to do with the fact that our stone-age ancestors spent a lot less time contemplating the human condition and focused on getting something to eat.

A thousand years spans about 30 generations on average. If you do the math, you’re only about 150 people away from your stone-age grandparents that lived on the savannah in 3000 B.C.

Although the symptom is the same, many different things can trigger resistance. The most common include self-doubt, fear, ego, laziness, indecisiveness.

Instead of getting to work, your brain comes up with an elaborate theory to justify why it’s not the right time yet. Recently, I’ve been avoiding this one task. I didn’t know how long it would take. In my mind, potentially weeks of work. And because of that, I always justified postponing it again and again for years.

Over time, the thing grew into almost mythical proportions. I developed this narrative in my mind that it would be too difficult and time-consuming.

This Friday, I had a bit of time in the evening. I finally decided to get this thing started. Two hours later, I finished it. I couldn’t believe it. The whole thing was done.

I’d spent hours agonising about the task over the past year — all of them a complete waste of time. If I got over the initial resistance and sorted it out right away, I could’ve saved myself a lot of time and anxiety.

Sometimes, the narratives we create about ourselves and about what we want to achieve are the problem. When you start working on the thing, you might find that it’s nowhere near as bad as you thought it would be.

Particularly when it comes to writing stories, there’s no downside to starting before you feel ready. Dive right in! Worst case, you’ll have to start over. You can always fix things later.

About the Author

Hi, I’m Radek 👋. I’m a writer, software engineer and the founder of Writing Analytics — an editor and writing tracker designed to help you beat writer’s block and create a sustainable writing routine.

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Past Editions

#230: Working Backwards, January 2022

#229: Luck for Writers, January 2022

#228: Following Through, January 2022

#227: Dealing with Change as a Writer, January 2022

#226: 12 Most Popular Writing Quotes of 2021, December 2021

#225: What Fears Hold You Back as a Writer?, December 2021

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Castle In The Sky (1986) Grave of the Fireflies (1988) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) Only Yesterday (1991) Porco Rosso (1992) Pom Poko (1994) Whisper of the Heart (1995) Princess Mononoke (1997) My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) Spirited Away (2001) The Cat Returns (2002) Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) Tales from Earthsea (2006) Ponyo On A Cliff From The Sea (2008) The Secret World of Arrietty/The Borrower Arrietty (2010) From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

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