January 3, 2013

Dear <<First Name>>:

Welcome to another edition of the life [simplified] letter.

News

Back to Business

I'm baaaack! I hope you missed me. I've been on hiatus the last two weeks over the holiday break. While I had great intentions to write, the time got away from me. I ate too much, enjoyed too many alcoholic beverages and was out most days with friends. It was fabulous. Now, I'm back to business.

I have a few new subscribers I'd like to officially welcome. Thanks for joining us. I love hearing from readers and take great delight in continuing the conversation that is started in these letters. Please don't be shy about sharing your views or insights. I learn so much from all of you, so keep it up!

The One Inch Frame

Accomplishing Projects Bite by Bite

For me, every day is a new thing. I approach each project with a new insecurity, almost like the first project I ever did. And I get the sweats. I go in and start working. I'm not sure where I'm going. If I knew where I was going, I wouldn't do it. ~ Frank Gehry

I started my new contract at the University of Alberta this week. I'm coordinating a professional practice course for pharmacy students. It will be fun and crazy busy. I'm looking forward to seeing what I have to offer.

This week, I met with my colleagues to go over the next term and start planning what is needed. All three of us are new to the course content although my colleagues at least have some experience teaching a course in the Faculty.

During the meetings, I was struck by the rising sense of panic and urgency everyone felt as we discussed all the tasks that need to be done to teach the courses and run the labs this term. After I returned home and had a chance to digest all the new information I had learned, I was reminded of some advice from Anne Lamott in her book, Bird by Bird. Anne is one of my favourite writers on the art of writing. Her advice, though, can be applied to many other situations.

In her chapter on Short Assignments, she describes starting a new writing project. She always experiences an initial panic about where to start. On her desk, she has a one inch picture frame. It is there to remind her that, for now anyway, all she has to do is focus on writing a very short assignment. Focus on what will she can see in the one inch frame. For her, this is a Jedi mind trick that gets her started. Bite by bite, she chews off her writing assignment.

I know at the start of any project, whether at home or at work, I feel overwhelmed by all the details. It doesn't matter how many projects I've done, at the start of every single one, I feel like I have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Yet, once I start and commit to doing the project, it gets done.

If I can just narrow the big, bad project down to just one task; heck, one action item that I can do right now, I've started. String together several of these micro actions and I will have completed a task. String together a bunch of tasks and I finish the project. Simple right?

It is simple, but the hard part is telling the jumpy, reactive lizard brain I own to settle down and focus on that one micro action. The same lizard brain is convinced of a multitude of problems in every project. My lizard brain is convinced that I'm not smart enough, cool enough, experienced enough, and...  well, the list goes on.

My internal critic is just Resistance. It is natural for me to want to avoid challenges and to stay in my comfort zone. Thank goodness, my frontal lobes know that I will become a lizard if I don't move out of that comfort zone. So to get the lizard brain to shut up, I give it a very small manageable action item to start. It seems silly, but it works for me.

Your life [simplified]

So what do you experience when you start new projects? How do you overcome the resistance and quiet down the lizard brain? Please tell me you have a lizard brain, too... :-)

I'll look forward to your comments.

Have a great week!

Cheers,
Catherine

P.S. Check out my letter archives if you are interested in reading back issues.