Doing the work

Sometimes it is painful. The deadline that is looming closer. The code that just won’t work correctly no matter how much you cuss at it. The simple library upgrade that wrecks your program completely. But it has to be done. And you need to do it. At times like this you need to remind yourself that nothing great was ever created without some struggle. Everything that was ever created that is considered good involved some one doing hard work to make it happen. You are no different. If you are going to make something good, you will be working hard on it. Take this blog post for example. I am writing it at the last moment. Way after it was scheduled to be written. Why? I could just give up and not publish anything this week. The world would continue to turn, life would go on. But I will know that I missed a goal. So I sat down and I am doing the work of writing this post. You should too. When things are hard, do not give up. Do not quit. Do the work. Even if it is not your best, you will be better for having done it. If you need help with this idea, I highly recommend reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. He describes the pain you are feeling, and more importantly he tells you how to get rid of it. If you are curious what the secret is, but don’t want to read the book, I’ll help you out and tell you the answer. DO THE WORK.

That’s right, do the work.

No matter what the task is, set your resolve to get it done. Then go do it. Now. It might not be pretty, but at the end of the day it will be. And that is more than most people can say about the things they have struggled with and abandoned. Now, I’m going to go and follow my advice and do the work.