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I think military folks sum all of this up as "embrace the suck." :) > A mentor of mine likes to talk about experiential avoidance as a sort of "reverse compass

I think military folks sum all of this up as "embrace the suck." :) > A mentor of mine likes to talk about experiential avoidance as a sort of "reverse compass." When we notice the desire to avoid something, it may actually be telling us what we need to move toward. I rarely get life-changing advice from a podcast, but something I heard one time really stuck with me. This super-successful guy was talking about all the businesses he owned or something and the host asked him what his morning routine looked like. Paraphrasing, his answer was: "After I've gone through my normal morning activities, I sit down and make a list of the things I need to do that day. I always look through the list and find the thing I want to do least, and I do that one first. Because I have found the things I don't want to do are almost always the most important."

simonswords82 4y ago
My chairman calls it "eating the pain"
- CharlesW 4y ago
  Similarly, "eat the frog". https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/eat-the-frog https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/eat-the-frog
sam1r 4y ago
A military friend once told me something similar! “What’s going to suck less, later? Handling it now… or later?”
montenegrohugo 4y ago
Sounds like Naval Ravikant - it's a method that has struck a chord with me too.
wruza 4y ago
It’s similar to how therapists address procrastination. You split your task into 5-7 substeps, find two that suck most and just do them first. Often turns out that the whole deal was blocked by something that didn’t even suck that much.
- cheese_van 4y ago
  5-7 things in a list might be daunting. I've found that setting the bar much lower is a great help. I worked in an office that responded to world events. So the inbox just grew. My working response was to, before setting out for work, write down the one thing that I wanted to accomplish that day and do it, regardless. One thing. Just one thing. It was amazingly effective for me.
kirso 4y ago
You could argue this is also a recipe for burnout. And thats why binary advice is pretty much useless. Everything is a balance, but you can't embrace the suck for 10 years, rarely anyone can. Sometimes we also avoid the reality that we just need to quit, get healthy. IMO the secret is not to always be struggling but to always maintain the balance of both. That is also why for many people "Eat the frog first" doesn't work. So I'll end this with menial - it highly depends...
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  Indeed, if you do 'suck' for 10 years, your career may be stellar, but your overall life, happiness, satisfaction and so on are somewhere down there in the mud regardless on the number on bank account. Balance, 'pick the fight', nobody normal has infinite amount of stamina and burnout can happen to any human being if pushed enough. I know plenty of non-normal for the lack of better word, somehow broken inside. Great career, once you truly know them inside out, its a sad pile of crap. Over-competitive till last breath, always comparing with more successful, never happy with what they have. Often quite bad parents who pour their mental state into their kids too (but I think that would be impossible to avoid). And cycle repeats, kids with great grades, excelling in various sports but happiness and smiles are not their trademark. Many hit the wall eventually and its not a nice sight. Some will never get back on their feet afterwards

simonswords82 4y ago

My chairman calls it "eating the pain"

CharlesW 4y ago
Similarly, "eat the frog". https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/eat-the-frog https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/eat-the-frog

sam1r 4y ago

A military friend once told me something similar! “What’s going to suck less, later? Handling it now… or later?”

montenegrohugo 4y ago

Sounds like Naval Ravikant - it's a method that has struck a chord with me too.

wruza 4y ago

It’s similar to how therapists address procrastination. You split your task into 5-7 substeps, find two that suck most and just do them first. Often turns out that the whole deal was blocked by something that didn’t even suck that much.

cheese_van 4y ago
5-7 things in a list might be daunting. I've found that setting the bar much lower is a great help. I worked in an office that responded to world events. So the inbox just grew. My working response was to, before setting out for work, write down the one thing that I wanted to accomplish that day and do it, regardless. One thing. Just one thing. It was amazingly effective for me.

kirso 4y ago

You could argue this is also a recipe for burnout. And thats why binary advice is pretty much useless. Everything is a balance, but you can't embrace the suck for 10 years, rarely anyone can. Sometimes we also avoid the reality that we just need to quit, get healthy. IMO the secret is not to always be struggling but to always maintain the balance of both. That is also why for many people "Eat the frog first" doesn't work. So I'll end this with menial - it highly depends...

saiya-jin 4y ago
Indeed, if you do 'suck' for 10 years, your career may be stellar, but your overall life, happiness, satisfaction and so on are somewhere down there in the mud regardless on the number on bank account. Balance, 'pick the fight', nobody normal has infinite amount of stamina and burnout can happen to any human being if pushed enough. I know plenty of non-normal for the lack of better word, somehow broken inside. Great career, once you truly know them inside out, its a sad pile of crap. Over-competitive till last breath, always comparing with more successful, never happy with what they have. Often quite bad parents who pour their mental state into their kids too (but I think that would be impossible to avoid). And cycle repeats, kids with great grades, excelling in various sports but happiness and smiles are not their trademark. Many hit the wall eventually and its not a nice sight. Some will never get back on their feet afterwards