Don’t let it paralyze you.
If you failed to do something through inaction, hesitation, or indecision, remember the feeling of regret it left in your gut.
Not to punish yourself or
Another opportunity of some kind will come your way, and you’ll feel hesitant or indecisive again. But if you remember the regret you felt the last time, you’ll realize how much better you’ll feel this time if you act.
Use it to make better decisions in the future.
It may not feel like much when it’s all you can physically do.
I’m speaking, of course, on producing, practicing, or creating when there just isn’t enough time in the day to get much of anything done. On those days, all you can do is all you can do.
And all you can do is good enough.
Write a few sentences instead of fretting over not writing a chapter.
Practice your instrument for 15 or 20 minutes instead of saying, “screw it” because you didn’t master an entire piece today.
Draw a doodle comic, not some magnificent portrait.
Go for a 10 minute walk rather than beating yourself up over the fact that you didn’t spend an hour at the gym.
Incremental improvement. Streaks. Baby steps. 5 minutes here; another 8 minutes there. This is how progress is made.
Change your mindset; realize that you are building mental fortitude and creating habits when you do just a little something each day rather than adopting an all-or-nothing mindset.
You might feel like you suck. You don’t. You’re doing a heck of a lot better than the person that decided not to show up today.
And if you can’t do anything at all, wipe the slate clean and show up again tomorrow.
Sometimes you agonize over making a decision, only to have that decision taken out of your hands. There may be a sense of relief when it happens, but all too often, that relief turns to regret.
The questions start boiling up: Why did I not jump on the offer when I got the chance? What held me back? Why was I so afraid?
Are you guilty of “paralysis by analysis” when it comes to making life decisions? I most certainly am.
I have lost so many opportunities over the years simply because I waited too long to decide. I sought out advice, weighed the pros and cons, did research…the problem is I never took action when it was time to decide. I was too afraid of failure, of taking the wrong road, of looking back at the possibilities I may have missed because of what I chose.
So I didn’t choose, and that in itself was a choice. It was a choice to have someone else decide for me.
Sometimes the decision is taken out of your hands. You have to learn from the experience. The question is not, “What could I have done differently?”
The question becomes…
What are you going to do now?
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