“Can I have 5 Minutes of Your Mind?”

Episode 3: Surpassing Emotions to Complete Tasks
By Yenifer De Lara

Nine times out of ten we don’t complete a task/goal because we’ve let a negative emotion overrule our brain. In the beginning you’re excited to start your new project/hobby but that excitement quickly subsides at the first negative emotion/failure perceived in the moment.

The logical mind sees a straight line from beginning a task to completing it. The emotional mind sees curves & obstacles. The path to your dreams becomes clearer when you focus on SMALL TASKS that help you get around those curves & obstacles. The word ‘tasks’ gives this impression of ‘just do it’. Tasks are just something you have to do. As opposed to a big overall dream suspended in mid air surrounded by “I wish I could x/y/z” and “when will x/y/z happen” statements. Completing small tasks daily to help you reach your end goal makes the path more practical, tangible, and real. Remember dreams without actions just stay dreams.

Don’t tell yourself, “There’s no way I could finish the last 500m row of your workout!” Sit on the machine, strap in your shoes, and do the first pull! One turns into two, you get into a rhythm, you exhale throughout the pull, soon the rower marks 500. You have to learn to see the value of doing a task objectively, without your bias, without your emotions, without your self limiting beliefs. 10 times out of 10 (guess what), the mind gives up before the body!

Think about moments where a feeling has overcome your will to do something. When you avoid doing something because of an unpleasant emotion that is associated with it, you unconsciously avoid succeeding. When you exclude your embarrassment, shyness, & fear it just seems easier to complete the task. We tend to project the struggle. We tend to project the difficulty. We tend to project failure and fear of failure. We tend to project it will be too expensive. We tend to project that we are incapable. We tend to project it’s impossible. We tend to project the first hurdle, and of course the next three. We tend to project a gazillion limitations. We believe all these projections. We believe we are only our flaws. Choosing to complete a task despite or without emotions is choosing to break the habit of you not reaching your goals.