Are You a Doer or a Pushbacker ?

Summary

Embracing uncomfortable tasks is crucial for personal growth, success, and increased comfort in life.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of confronting tasks that induce discomfort, as this is a key driver for personal development and success. It suggests that procrastination, often rooted in past failures or fears, leads to increased anxiety and disruption of daily routines. By addressing these tasks head-on, individuals can overcome the Zeigarnik effect, which keeps unfinished tasks at the forefront of their minds. The article advocates for immediate action to prevent tasks from escalating into insurmountable challenges, arguing that by facing fears and tackling tasks promptly, individuals can gain self-confidence, earn respect, and create more time for enjoyable activities, ultimately leading to a structured stride towards success.

Opinions

Procrastination is a common response to fear and discomfort associated with certain tasks, leading to a cycle of avoidance and increased anxiety.
The Zeigarnik effect illustrates how unfinished tasks occupy our thoughts, causing tension and stress that can only be relieved by completing the task.
Postponing tasks can create a time crunch, resulting in suboptimal performance, such as cramming for exams under stressful conditions.
Facing fears and starting with small steps is essential for overcoming the discomfort associated with challenging tasks.
Engaging with uncomfortable tasks leads to personal growth, increased self-confidence, and opens up opportunities for career advancement.
By dealing with difficult tasks immediately, individuals can maintain routines, become more successful, and have more time for pleasurable activities.
Embracing uncertainty and the challenges it brings is presented as a secret to making progress in any area of life.

Do the Uncomfortable to Become Comfortable and Succeed!

By doing the uncomfortable, you will become massively comfortable. Sounds weird but makes perfect sense the more you think about it. It is literally the secret to progress in life, the key to more freedom and fulfillment.

Each of us has a certain task at hand, a meeting, or a project we always push back. For some reason, we are somehow afraid of the thing. Often, we cannot really answer why. It might be related to past experiences; maybe we had a similar task where we failed or where we didn’t get enough praise or felt embarrassed. Whatever it might be, we often encounter such a situation. A feeling of anxiety spreads, we get an uncomfortable feeling, our whole daily routine and other activities get disrupted. Our comfort zone is threatened by the uncomfortable. Suddenly, everything revolves around this one thing. Routines are overturned. Panic, fear, cold sweats, and rapid heartbeat often follow.

So, what do we do? Yes, we push it further back, try to hand it off, or get rid of it. Maybe a colleague at work will take it over. We simply run away. But logically, that is not the solution, as we often simply cannot avoid it. So, we must take on the task, even if fear and discomfort become noticeable.

The more we postpone things, the worse it gets. It is related to the Zeigarnik effect. When we have unfinished tasks, our minds tend to stay preoccupied with them until completed. It was shown that a waiter could remember the unfinished orders much better than the ones already completed (which disappeared). This means for our topic that we engage more and more with our subject matter. This creates tension and anxiety. We remember the uncompleted. Once it is done, it is done, and our mind can relax. Milkshakes!

The unfinished task becomes bigger and bigger; it constantly remains in our head, thoughts revolve around it. Every day we waste and postpone things only make it worse. What initially seems achievable becomes your own Mount Everest. More fear arises, and more is postponed, a vicious cycle. By postponing things, we then also get into a time crunch, because the day will come when we cannot avoid it, and by postponing things, we often have only a few days or hours left. We all know it from exams, where the day before we cram everything into our short-term memory like crazy. Often under an “infusion” of energy drinks and without sleep. Just to sit in front of the examiner like an empty shell. That can ultimately be solved more easily.

First of all, we must face our fear. Whether it’s a project, meeting, or conversation with the boss, whether it’s a call, meeting with your crush, or the homework. Consider why you feel the fear, specify the task exactly. What is causing panic, then imagine how you master it without any problems. Start with small steps. Most importantly, start immediately. That’s the kicker.

These are ultimately the challenges that shape us, that make us grow and move forward. If we all only did the pleasant things, the world would simply stand still.

Your mind will thank you; you will gain more self-confidence when you tackle things immediately, earn respect, career advancement opportunities will arise, you will maintain your routines (thereby becoming more successful), more time for enjoyable things will arise, you will simply stride structured towards success.

If you want to progress no matter where, look for the uncertain. That’s the secret.

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