How to do hard things

So, the time has finally come to write the first of many blogs, and to introduce myself to the world as a professional in my field of psychotherapy, also known as being an ‘expert in human change’. But am I an expert? NO!!! About the only thing I would comfortably accept this illustrious title of expert is on the subject of indulging my being in the art of coziness. OH the soft fabrics, OH the warm beverages! But that's a topic for another day.

 I am not an expert on human change, but I do know more than most, and feel I have valuable wisdom to share. Yet I also feel fear. Fear of ridicule, fear of misquoting someone brilliant, and maybe above all, fear of accepting a new role in society as a professional in my field (do you like how I sidestepped that one by announcing “I am not an expert”) Like it or not, any change, whether good or bad, can and often is, scary.

Writing this blog, therefore, is a hard thing for me and I'd like to share with you the simple strategies which I've utilised to make it possible. There is a wonderful book many of you may have heard of, it's called Atomic Habits by a man called James Clear. In it, Clear offers four laws of habit change or formation. Today I'd like to talk to you about the third law, ‘Make it Easy’. Clear gives an example of how humans are wired evolutionarily to take the easy option (again, a topic for another day). Thankfully, Clear writes about how we can work with this trait, rather than our lives drifting along with the current.

What Clear means by ‘Make It Easy’ is to reduce the enormity of whatever task we're trying to accomplish. If you want to run a marathon, you're unlikely to just pop on your running shoes, pack a water bottle and go. But if you reduce that goal to its absolute smallest component (put your running shoes on and run for 1 minute), you might start the prep work towards your marathon. In my case, to put pen to paper and write this blog, I have employed four ‘Make It Easy’ tactics.

1. I'm writing about a subject of present relevance and interest to me. With doing hard things on my mind anyway, it makes it far easier to write about. Additionally, because it interests me, I don't have to use willpower to stay on topic; my mind is there anyway.

2. Instead of sharing my own thoughts, which could be met with ridicule by my peers, all I'm doing here is sharing my experience and thoughts on a highly reputable and well-liked source. Once I've got past the ‘first blog fear’, facing the fear of ridicule might be more palatable for future blogs.

3. I'm writing the first draft with a physical pen and paper. No spell check, no concern for grammar, no getting distracted by the infinite things my computer can offer me.

4. I'm not even committing to publishing this! First, my business coach, and one or two other people will proofread it. So, in essence, I am outsourcing the decision to publish. Decisions are hard! Preserve precious energy by outsourcing!

And there we have it, my first ever blog post, a hard thing, achieved because I ‘made it easy’. Like the content but have a specific hard thing you just can’t seem to make easy? Put it in the comments section below and let’s see what we can come up with together.