I was standing at my desk in my home office clicking away at the keyboard. My to-do list is next to me on a whiteboard and doesn’t seem to get any shorter. There is a lot to do. Over the past few hours, I was working on returns policy, shipping expectations and sizing details for the shirts I plan on using for faith based and Stoic philosophy designs. At one specific moment, I was working tediously on a sizing chart making sure that it was accurate, had proper spacing and was good to look at. I was zooming in to ensure that even small details were accounted for, that I knew most people would not spend more than 30 seconds looking at it. My attention to detail was becoming obsessive. This work reminded me of what Marcus Aurelius wrote 2,000 years ago: “Concentrate every minute like a Roman – like a man – on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions.” At this moment I was completely free of distractions as Marcus instructed.
What’s funny about this moment in time is that I am not always this dedicated to the work at hand. These are tedious, but necessary areas for setting up a merchant website that I hope to launch officially this week. Two months ago, I would not have given this another thought but now I was living and breathing each detail. I had to perform research into the nuances of returning a print on demand item and to clearly lay out what qualifies on to the website. An investigation was required on the process in which material is shipped across the country. These are areas that I have always taken for granted. Ordering online is easy; and a few days later it shows up on my front steps. Now I understood the magic behind this process. This was also something that I was avoiding to the last minute.
Procrastination is an interesting topic. I did not think much of this until recently, because after all, we all do it in some form. This procrastination seemed a bit unusual – a bit more intense than normal. Work was getting done and getting the website going seemed to be on track. Designs were completed in the end, so this wasn’t a big deal, right? The shipping expectations and return policies were more important, however. I cannot realistically launch an online store without this being spelled out. No matter how much this nagged at me inside my head, I kept pushing it off.
Then, on one of my walks with the dog and listening to random podcasts, I heard about the ideas of Dr Hayden Finch. She wrote the book “The Psychology of Procrastination” which details the neuroscience behind avoidance. Procrastination is a deliberate choice to delay a task even when you know it will cost you later. It is an emotional response. The brain gives you a dopamine hit for avoiding the task as a reward, allowing the avoidance to continue. The cycle loses its grip when you break the loop. She goes in to far more detail in her book. Her ideas kept coming back to me every time the urge to avoid the work returned. What struck me is how you can be productive in some areas of life (see last week's post on the plumbing problems) and still procrastinate hard in others. Seeing this clearly made it obvious that I had to deal with the procrastination if I was truly to move forward with my goals.
So how do you break this loop? I addressed it by confronting the emotional response of avoidance with a different emotional action. I reframed the task by looking at the larger picture - what finishing the work would unlock for me. I saw that completing a tedious return policy will ultimately lead to the launch of my online store. Imagining this gave me the internal drive to get on the computer. Starting is the hardest part. Action, even small action, will create motivation. Momentum builds from there. I've known about this idea for a while. I came across this by Mark Manson, author and self help guru. He calls it the “Do Something” Principle: action creates motivation, not the other way around. I found this to be effective and true.
I got the web pages created and finalized the administrative areas of online business. So what’s next? I have two items left to officially launch the online store and things are lining up to have that done this week. I cannot wait to show the world the designs I have been working on during my free time, evenings and weekends to have an apparel line that I would want to wear myself. Something that carries my values and brings positive messages of faith, Stoic determination and resilience out into the bleakness of this sometimes-negative world. This venture of mine is opening up a new world to me, something that I could not have imagined two months ago. Understanding the nature of online retail, legal and tax requirements to sell online, the technology behind web hosting and print on demand services has been a complete education for me. I have learned so much. That is why I think it is appropriate to end on the teachings of the great Stoic educator, Epictetus: “The life you seek is hidden inside the discipline you avoid.”
I will be reaching out to you again real soon once the store opens. Remember, until then, Forge on!
Musonius.