Resistance Almost Beat Me. How To Get Things To DONE

The other day I wrote about Getting Started. Since then I’ve had this niggling feeling that the article needed more work; it didn’t feel finished, like it wasn’t the whole truth.

Quick Summary:

• It’s hard to get started. answer: Make sure you prep, build a routine
• It’s hard to stick at it. answer: Form a habit, habits are hard to break

Then it showed you some simple tricks and tips that can help conquer resistance and put these methods in place yourself.

Last week I managed to hit the publish button on that article from a dim-lit hotel room while travelling for work.
All, I thought, was well.
Heading home again on the long-haul flight I started writing out, with pen and paper how my thought processes worked (don’t worry, that nightmare isn’t being shared here) and how to simplify this into something useful for others. How to get from thought, to firm idea, validate, put it into actions, and get them done instead of letting them run wild as internal musings, open loops, and unfinished projects.

As the writing flowed on these processes, some notes came up on the recent article
Had the article actually made sense?
Will it be useful to others looking at starting something or sticking to it?
Re-write the post with all these new and improved ideas?
Delete the post all together!?

All this stuff was making it onto the paper. What did it mean? Where was it going?
It didn’t seem to matter, I couldn’t put the pen down.

It was only a day earlier I found this little gem from Tim Ferriss on being disconnected and unplugged during the writing/creativity/getting-things-done process and was accidentally putting it into place right there on the plane. Talk about serendipity!

The War Of Art sprung to mind again here too as the author talks about actually getting started, but also what happens next

When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us – Steven Pressfield.

Weird thing? I could feel it.
I am certainly not a natural writer. Apart from being a total nerd who is much more comfortable typing, I’m actually inherently lazy. I’m a better doer than writer. But for some reason, this time

I need to get this out, I have to get this out. I never wanted it to end!

Enter, Resistance.
It came hunting like a pack wolf. I noticed it after about 2 pages, but it knew this and then the dance began..
Have you ever seen the 1983 Twilight Zone movie (or the original) where that gremlin tears up the plane from the wing?

Resistance: Look, you have written heaps. Grab your laptop and put this into action!
Me: Yes! Can’t wait, I should start writing this down…wait, I AM writing this down.

Resistance: This is the best stuff you have ever written, start putting it into posts, you could turn this into 3 or 4 of them, take the load off your next few weeks.
Me: That would be so awesome. Ah crap, that is exactly what my Writing notebook looks like in Evernote, a whole bunch of these “ideas” that are not done. This is different. This is going somewhere.

Resistance: Your neck and shoulders are getting sore. You will be sorry if you do some damage and feel terribly uncomfortable for the rest of the flight.
Me: Yeah, ok. That’s a good idea.
No! You are in Business Class, just adjust the freakin seat!

Resistance: Your arm, wrist, hand are all cramping up. You need to stretch. Just like that airline video says at the start. Take out that stretches card and do a couple of those leg or arm moves, you will feel better. You can come straight back.
Me: Yes. No! This was a cheeky double attack. I had a sudden urge to take out my camera and take a picture of that stretches card in the seat pocket to put in the article. No! Take an (action:) note and move on.

Resistance: I’m almost done with this post. Well done. Congratulate yourself by ticking off all those (action:)’s. You have put in along the way. (I wrote about putting in reminders as you write in the last post like R: for research to stop you getting distracted) You could stop and start doing some of your actions now. Get things done!
Me: This one is particularly insidious; No! Instant gratification is exactly what I am getting from all this writing. Lap it up Nathan, go you good thing! Keep congratulating the little battles with resistance. Win or lose, it’s the fight that counts.

Resistance: You will be home soon. You need some downtime.
You won’t have this time again. Lay back and rest. Watch something entertaining on your little-big screen. Something you won’t get to when you get home.
Me: Hmm, sounds good. I can actually watch something without being interrupted.

Check out this note I wrote at the top of one of the pages as I considered all these internal monologues and whether anyone would be interested in this or just think I was completely insane:
Is this an opinion piece? How do you position that? Do I even know how to do that? I should try looking that up…

F@ck! Who cares?! This is just more resistance!

I even started writing “THE EN..” and got to the N in END and stopped. Get it all out

Resistance is strongest at the finish line – Steven Pressfield.

Did resistance win?
Tell it that he did. Then smile cos you know he didn’t…this time. 🙂

When I had finished there was over 3500 words in total, in under 5 hours!
That was the clincher. Do you know what this means?! Following this sort of non-distraction method, fighting resistance you could easily write a post a day. It’s not a goal, it’s a possibility. It shouldn’t shackle you as a to do item, it should empower you to know you are capable.

2 Quick Points in Summary
Let yourself go: Use a notepad and just write it all out, warts ‘n all. You can edit later
Resistance is always there: Respect that, acknowledge it and keep on truckin’

Will my writing be better from now on? No idea. Time will tell, but what I do know is things are different now. Now I am truly – DONE.

THE END.

p.s.
I even came back to write a new opening. Oh, the joy of getting onto Evernote knowing I have already got the post down – the whole thing on paper. All I need to do is type it out, re-order the paragraphs to be less crazy-thought-process, take a couple pictures and BOOM. Done.

Have your own Resistance stories? Share them below