Yesterday, I was staring at my screen. I think it was LinkedIn, but it could’ve been another platform.
It doesn’t matter.
I was staring at the screen wondering if I should post what was on my mind at the time. I had an idea, but I hesitated and that’s when I get stuck sometimes.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter that I have a content plan laid out. Sometimes it doesn’t matter that I can replay all of the steps necessary to post amazing content.
Sometimes, I sit and stare at the screen and the voice speaks up.
“They might not like this. This idea is more brilliant in your mind than it is in reality.”
—
I have two young boys. They are a handful.
Every day I have to sit down and have a talk with them because they get crazy and things escalate.
Every single day I start off thinking I’m their wise Father and every single night I look at them feeling like I’m failing. And the only reason why is because it seems like my sage advice gets thrown out the window.
But yesterday, while staring at the screen it hit me.
They aren’t ignoring my advice. If they sat down and thought about it they could even tell you what it was.
But we don’t work like that.
We are animals. Everything starts with a feeling and if we aren’t able to stop that feeling from hitting the surface, then it erupts.
99% of the time I don’t have to tell myself that it’s about reps and there really is no such thing as failure. Everything is a learning experience. Everything is an experiment.
In those times, I guess I’m able to move before the feeling erupts.
Yesterday, I failed to move in time and so I started to agree with the voice.
“You’re right. Let’s think about this a bit more.”
But thinking changed nothing. I didn’t even get up to walk away from the computer.
Just me and the blank screen.
Just me and wasted time.
—
When I’m giving advice, I have the luxury of not being in your shoes. The luxury of not having that feeling bubble up to the surface.
It’s why I can laugh and wonder why I can’t follow my advice all of the time.
It’s because we don’t follow advice.
We follow our feelings and the only thing we can do is get better at training ourselves on how to act when a certain feeling is trying to erupt.
My boys haven’t gotten to the stage of development where they can recognize when a feeling is coming and then navigate around it.
I bet you if they came across a blank screen they’d just draw on it.
I could learn a thing or two from them because we don’t follow advice.
We follow our feelings.