The Things We Avoid

The task sits there, glaring at you from your to-do list. Day after day.

You know it needs doing. You know the consequences of avoidance. Yet you find a dozen other "urgent" matters to attend to first. Even laundry becomes more compelling.

The things we hate doing aren't usually complicated. They're uncomfortable. They force us to confront something—inadequacy, conflict, tedium—that we'd rather not face.

But there’s knowledge in the resistance.

What we avoid often contains the lessons we need most. The email you dread sending. The conversation you keep postponing. The numbers you don't want to review.

Schedule ten minutes with the thing you're avoiding. Not to finish it—just to face it. Sit with the discomfort. Name it. "This feels tedious." "I'm afraid of rejection." "I don't know where to start."

Then do the smallest possible version of the task. Write one sentence. Google the instructions. Open the spreadsheet.

Resistance diminishes not when the task disappears, but when you push a little and realize it never had the power you gave it.