Last year, on a family trip to a cabin, my son attempted to pop a wheelie on our electric dirt bike, and suddenly, it stopped moving. I looked at the drive belt – it was broken. Faced with an insurmountable task, having no experience in fixing such a thing, I felt a knot of anxiety. That feeling, however, was about to teach me a lesson on tackling anything in life.
You know the feeling. That project, that chore, that something that feels overwhelming and impossible. You stare at it, feeling a mountain of stress because you don’t even know where to begin. What if I told you that the perceived difficulty could be tackled by just diving in?
I looked at the broken bike and felt helpless. I ordered a new belt, found some YouTube tutorials, and even though the task was labeled as complex, I decided to take it step by step. The sense of accomplishment I felt when I fixed the bike was unparalleled.
The Trap of the Unknown
The core of the issue lies in the unknown. The largest amount of difficulty is what exists right now at this very moment. It seems infinite because we can’t see the end. We don’t know how long it will take, so it feels like forever, leading us into a never-ending loop of procrastination.
The solution? Just start doing it. Once you break the task down and start working towards it, the fog lifts. The electric dirt bike seemed impossible to fix, but as I got into it, piece by piece, the challenge became more manageable.
As you dive into a task, you start to get a better lay of how things work. You anticipate the scope better. You understand the size, and therefore the time it will take. Suddenly, the impossible becomes doable, even easy.
Conclusion: Your Next Impossible Task
When you’re feeling overwhelmed with a task, feeling like it’s too much, just start doing it. If I could fix a dirt bike with zero experience, you can tackle your next big project. Trust me, it gets easier with each and every step. The mountain isn’t as high as it seems from the base. Start climbing, and soon it will become like nothing at all.