The Work You Avoid

There’s an email I haven’t sent for three weeks. I’ve noticed that the work I avoid often has the most leverage. It is not always the hardest work or the work that takes the most time. Sometimes it’s a very small thing: the email I need to send, the thing I need to launch, the conversation I need to have, or the decision I keep putting off even though, somewhere in the back of my mind, I already know the answer.

Meanwhile, I can be extremely productive doing everything around it. I can research, plan, tweak, build something else or make another spreadsheet, which, to be fair, I thoroughly enjoy 😂. I can do ten useful things and still avoid the one thing that might actually change something. I don’t think I am alone in this.

We do not always avoid things because they’re difficult. Sometimes we avoid them because they have consequences. If I do this, something might actually happen. If I put the offer out there, someone might say no. If I apply, I might not get it. If I ask the question, I might get an answer I don’t like. If I make the decision, I can no longer hide comfortably inside “I’m still thinking about it.”

But the opposite is also true. Someone might say yes, I might get it, the thing might work or the decision might open a door I couldn’t see from where I was standing.

I’ve made a few decisions in my life that, looking back, completely changed my trajectory. They didn’t necessarily feel monumental when I made them. They were simply the next decision in front of me. That’s the part I keep coming back to.

You are one decision away from a completely different life, either way. Because not deciding is a decision too.

Not sending it, not starting, not stopping, not asking, not choosing, staying exactly where you are because it’s familiar. Those are all decisions, and they compound.

So lately, when I find myself circling something, I’ve started asking myself: what am I avoiding because it’s uncomfortable, and what becomes possible if I just do it?

Sometimes the answer is nothing particularly life-changing. But every once in a while, the thing sitting at the bottom of your list isn’t there because it’s unimportant. It’s there because you know it matters, and maybe that’s the work to do first.

What are you avoiding right now, and will the reason you are avoiding it still matter five years from now?

With clarity,
Roseline

P.S. I’m sending that email today 😊

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