The All or Nothing Attitude (and How To Avoid it!)
I noticed something about me the other day- a character trait that I’d not realised I had, but one that definitely holds me back somewhat.
It was during a business mentoring session during which I was explaining to my mentor how I was having trouble getting started on certain tasks that would be very beneficial to my business. As I explained my situation, I had a sudden realisation that I was suffering from an all or nothing attitude.
The tasks I was struggling with and the projects I couldn’t get off the ground were things I really wanted to do but even though I had the desire to do these things, I wasn’t starting them. And why was that? Because I felt as though I needed to be able to complete these projects to perfection and know what I needed to do to achieve this before I started them.
An example of this is writing this blog- When looking for inspiration for my blog, I felt I needed to come up with some kind of masterpiece and I spent so long trying to think of something amazing to write that nothing happened- I put nothing down on “paper”.
My mentor gave me some interesting advice that freed my mind up regarding this- just do SOMETHING! Even if I just write a small paragraph on what has been going on today- an interesting thought or experience, it is better than writing nothing. And more importantly, I can start something such as a blog post and continue it later on. This may seem obvious to many reading this, but I had got so caught up in the all or nothing mindset, I hadn’t even realised what I was doing.
So if you are thinking of something you want to do- a project you want to embark on, just get going- even if you just take a small step, it’s better than thinking and not doing.
I must be taking my own advice- I have just written this blog post after all!