Stopping to pause can often be the best way to go faster tomorrow.
Last night, while in my evening office (aka ‘Coco The Couch’) migrating content to the new Ghost Influence site, I found myself a bit lost. It started with a loss of focus, evolved into a loss of motivation, and ultimately sparked a sense of strong anxiety.
What would happen if the game plan didn’t come to fruition? Could I afford to make these investments? Was I going to finish in time to find out? Did I need help?
What started as a sense of sluggishness had transgressed into a full fledged sense of panic and lasted for about two hours (while I pretended to get work done).
I finally had the sense to do the math (as much as I hate it).
I looked at my bills and expenses and matched the date they were expected with the date payments from clients, customers, and commissions were expected. I started to doubt certain people would pay me… and did more math. Even if two of the parties (for one of the many fear-based reasons I invented) didn’t pay me when they were supposed to, I’d still be able to manage.
This started to calm me down as, even if everything went to shit, I’d still be able to eat and pay rent (which is all that really matters). It was with this that I remembered something I’d constructed, documented, printed, and framed on my wall (which had been less than three feet from me while I was doing my panic math). It read…
When faced with anxiety ask:
- What is your motivation?
- What is your method?
- What is your metric?
My motivation was to have the financial leverage for building cool shit originating from the activity of helping people set and achieve their goals. My method was a cohesive (and strategically low investment) web presence that fostered the social leverage enabling the outcomes sought by my motivation. My metrics were hanging in front of me on the wall in the same picture frame I’d overlooked during the last two hours.
Since it’s birth amidst a panic attack in the later part of last year, this was the first time that formula had really come in handy. Once I used it (which I’ll presumably get better about doing sooner in the future), I was soothed and had a sense of directive.
Low and behold, I was jolted awake by a violent and disgusting cough about thirty minutes before my alarm this morning. Apparently the “loss of focus” that was the catalyst to all of this was a result of the fact that I was getting sick — advanced apologies to Ms. Button Nose if you come down with anything in the next few days.
I don’t feel too terrible today, but my body is fighting something for sure.
The morals of this flemmy story are as follows: stay hydrated, listen to your body, look for the true source of anxiety when you feel it, and use the ‘Three M Formula’ above to deconstruct runaway emotions with simple logic (sooner rather than later).
While I’d really love to do this…
I’m expending the remainder of my energy to consume half the supplements in a health foods store… and writing to you.
What gif summarizes how you’re feeling today?