Something I’m Thinking About
More often than not I have an item lingering on my punch list that I just can’t seem to find the mental fortitude to tackle.
It’s typically not even something monumental, but my inaction makes it feel several orders of magnitude larger than it really is.
It’s often something that falls into one of the following buckets:
Administrative or clerical work such as paying bills or filing some sort of paperwork.
Queuing up social media content or email newsletters.
Organizing and documenting recurring tasks.
Stack up several of these items up over the course of a few days or week and the overwhelm begins to creep in, shortly followed by low level anxiety and varying degrees of self doubt.
“Why can’t I ever seem to get anything done?”
“Maybe I need a new project management tool?”
“Once I get past ABC, everything will be perfect and I’ll finally have time to dedicate to XYZ.”
After some period of time externalizing my problems and fantasizing about future scenarios where I have infinite bandwidth for my infinite punch list, I close my email, put my phone in silent mode and just do the damn thing.
Somewhere between 15 and 60 minutes later, dopamine fueled elation hits as I proudly cross that item off my list.
I am free.
Liberation gives way to reflection and I realize how toxic letting small things pile up are to my psyche.
I quietly commit to do better next time but the reality is that I’ll probably continue to rinse and repeat.
I open up my text editor and quickly document my revelation along with an SOP, while it’s fresh.
Maybe I’ll even add an action item to Asana.
I make a mental note of who on my team can help me with this moving forward.
Or at least I do in theory.
Something I’m Reading
Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker
As someone who struggles with 3AM insomnia more often than I’d care to admit, lately I’ve been digging into things I can do to get a better night’s sleep.
I’ve heard Dr. Walker on several podcasts over the years and it’s clear that most popular “sleep theory” barely scratches the surface of what his research has been uncovering.
Something I’m Proud Of
Our new website for The Surf Village in Bradley Beach launched last week. It’s a nice little upgrade from the previous landing page we’ve been working with.
Besides the visual and content upgrades, guests can now book directly with us and save on the booking fees AirBnb, VRBO and other platforms charge.
The lingering punch list is soooo relatable. I love your process. I usually laugh at myself when I finally check that nagging item off the list, saying "that was much ado about nothin!" And congrats on Surf Village!
Hi Bret! I punched my science experiment level dirty dishes from the sink and counter into the kitchen garbage can and then straight into the big garbage can with wheels on it in the garage. Time to visit the Thrift store and buy some more plates and bowls. (much easier to clean). A great feeling! Next is punching a table top and couple of laundry baskets full of old paperwork over to the Shredding company a few miles away. Then I need to stop lingering and punch the entire carpet, which my cat vomits on and destroyed, out of the house. Nothing more liberating than knocking out things enslaving my time and energy.