Stop Asking HOW

I have a confession. I stumble, a lot — every time I focus on the HOW of things.

Like when I first thought of writing, I kept running away from the task because I was so fixated on the HOW of it all. How will I write. How am I going to find topics. How should I present myself. How will readers perceive me, etc, etc.

image source: ©iStock, credit: koyu

Even today, I caught myself doing it, thinking about some work, and my mind immediately stumbling onto the HOW of the task. It’s a funny thing, and lately it’s been putting me off a little.

Kids ask HOW almost instinctively, about everything — and I think that word just never really left me; except now I ask it to myself, instead of anyone else.

I’ve noticed something in the people around me too — the ones who spend far more time thinking about doing a thing than actually doing it. It’s a nice place to visit sometimes, that headspace. But stay too long, and you stop connecting with what’s actually in front of you.

So a few months ago, I gave myself a challenge. Every time I stumble upon the HOW, I let myself sit with that feeling for no more than a minute or two. And if I happen to go over that limit, I take it as a challenge to come up with either a solution, or some kind of action toward solving it.

& I’m no great philosopher (yet). But there’s been some sort of satisfaction in getting things done, or at least closing the open tabs in my brain, one thought at a time.