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There’s a lot of mental gymnastics that are stopping the OP from attacking the problem. Fear of failure, perfectionism, and putting ideas on a pedestal are cons

There’s a lot of mental gymnastics that are stopping the OP from attacking the problem. Fear of failure, perfectionism, and putting ideas on a pedestal are constructs of the ego. The ego is most likely framing the entire situation as ‘What is this grand pivot that, if executed properly, will change everything?’. Very pretentious, don’t let your ego frame things in that manner.

loceng 7y ago
Makes me think about "getting ahead of oneself" - e.g. thinking, worrying, too much about the future. “Being where you are is bliss, thinking about where you want to be is suffering.” Hence why meditation to observe your thoughts and observe if you react to thoughts is a useful practice for training yourself to be more in the present moment - because there's no gift like the present!
- runawaybottle 7y ago
  Sure, it’s a standard defense mechanism. The particular mental model you are describing, the ‘living in the future’ model, is often used by people on extreme ends to justify all types of bad behavior in the present. They begin to rationalize simple things like procrastinating, because ‘it won’t be like this in the future, so I am absolved of my actions in the present’. The OP is effectively saying ‘I don’t have to do any work, because in the future I will have the perfect idea that will be worth working on’. That’s the root issue that needs to be tackled, plenty of other posters have given frameworks for doing so (breaking things down, etc). But we must keep the root cause in mind, because it will always pop up in other scenarios, e.g ‘It’s okay if I never followed up with this girl/guy, because one day I’ll meet a better girl/guy’, or, ‘I don’t have to care too much about this person, because he/she won’t be around in a few months’, etc. It’s all part of the same framework, be vigilant.
  - topicseed 7y ago
    Not the OP, but very insightful and very accurate. Thank you for this reminder.
  - dennisy 6y ago
    Thanks for this, I have never viewed things in this manner. Do you have any suggestions, or maybe reading to tackle such a cause?
- agumonkey 6y ago
  there's truth in this, a lot, but I find a little paradox that if bliss is here, why is everybody moving ? I try to strike a balance between enjoying the moment and enjoying the change too.
pjc50 7y ago
Yes, in practice it's more important to do something. I'm reminded of Spolsky: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/

loceng 7y ago

Makes me think about "getting ahead of oneself" - e.g. thinking, worrying, too much about the future. “Being where you are is bliss, thinking about where you want to be is suffering.” Hence why meditation to observe your thoughts and observe if you react to thoughts is a useful practice for training yourself to be more in the present moment - because there's no gift like the present!

runawaybottle 7y ago
Sure, it’s a standard defense mechanism. The particular mental model you are describing, the ‘living in the future’ model, is often used by people on extreme ends to justify all types of bad behavior in the present. They begin to rationalize simple things like procrastinating, because ‘it won’t be like this in the future, so I am absolved of my actions in the present’. The OP is effectively saying ‘I don’t have to do any work, because in the future I will have the perfect idea that will be worth working on’. That’s the root issue that needs to be tackled, plenty of other posters have given frameworks for doing so (breaking things down, etc). But we must keep the root cause in mind, because it will always pop up in other scenarios, e.g ‘It’s okay if I never followed up with this girl/guy, because one day I’ll meet a better girl/guy’, or, ‘I don’t have to care too much about this person, because he/she won’t be around in a few months’, etc. It’s all part of the same framework, be vigilant.
- topicseed 7y ago
  Not the OP, but very insightful and very accurate. Thank you for this reminder.
- dennisy 6y ago
  Thanks for this, I have never viewed things in this manner. Do you have any suggestions, or maybe reading to tackle such a cause?
agumonkey 6y ago
there's truth in this, a lot, but I find a little paradox that if bliss is here, why is everybody moving ? I try to strike a balance between enjoying the moment and enjoying the change too.

pjc50 7y ago

Yes, in practice it's more important to do something. I'm reminded of Spolsky: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/