Are you sweating the small stuff?
Don’t sweat the small stuff. A phrase that means it isn’t worth getting upset over minor issues. But where your future is concerned, you may need to sweat the small stuff. Allow me to explain.
Every week I sit in front of my computer, open a Word document, and look at a blank screen (in silence). I then wait for the thoughts and words. Sometimes I wait a while. It was daunting in the beginning, and it is still daunting now! What is different now is that the initial discomfort that I feel is followed by an article within two hours. Discomfort followed by exhilaration. And I have realised that the process of writing is very nurturing for me. One that engages my brain 3.0.
Those of you who have been following my journey from the start will know that writing is not my innate talent. I had many limiting beliefs (and still do) about writing. But I thought the best way to work through my limiting belief was to face it head-on. My advice to myself back then was, ‘don’t think about it, just do it’. Because writing is an important part of my future and future self.
At this stage, having written weekly for over a year, it is a small achievement. But my achievement is not the number of articles I have written to-date. It is who I am becoming along the way. I look forward to my weekly blank screen. My mundane weekly ritual. I often do not know what I am going to write about until I sit in front of my computer. In the beginning, I would give myself 2 days to create an article but now I can write one within two hours. It depends on the topic of course but overall, the time required now is certainly less. I have become comfortable with the discomfort.
This brings me to the subject of this article. As I write it, I am reminded of two quotes. Tim Denning, a fellow writer on Medium, says, ‘success is made out to be sexy. It’s fetishized by Instagram culture. Nobody tells you the truth: big achievements are full of the mundane.’
And the second quote is from Kamala Harris, Vice President of the USA, who says her leadership style is ‘sweating the small stuff’ and ‘embracing the mundane’ to create big change.
Success is usually glamourised and failure hushed in the real world. We often hear the successes with the difficult bits omitted. I remember as a Project Manager the focus was always on completion within the deadline. That was how success was measured and it is a logical way to do so. But that success was only achieved through the many (many) small steps taken to get there. The conflicts between teams, the potential derailment by stakeholders, the shortfall of a promised product specification, and much more were some of the fires fought to get to the finish line. Through small actions taken in continuum and without cutting corners. Those mundane small steps were what mattered in the end. It was a rite of passage!
“It is often the mastery of the seemingly unimportant details, the careful execution of the tedious tasks, and the dedicated work done outside of the public eye that make the changes we seek possible” Harris says. This applies to us too. Our world sees the outcomes or perceived outcomes of our endeavours with the tedious bits hidden which only we know. Bits that impact us to learn and grow.
We all have our dreams, goals and wants for our future. And it takes a bit of effort to get there. Just by thinking about them does not allow them to materialise. But thinking is vital! However, to get what we want requires many steps, often small and tedious – what we need to do. In combination with persistence, consistency, and grit. So, as I find and arrange my words weekly that hopefully make sense to you, I also hope I am in some way inspiring and gently provoking you. To do what you want and become who you want to be along the way!
To think BIGGER AND sweat the s m a l l stuff!
Because as Harris says, “You have to sweat the small stuff because sometimes it turns out that the small stuff is actually the big stuff.”
As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com
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