From anxious indecision to compassionate messy action
A personal perspective on navigating procrastination, career clarity, and self-compassion.
‘Messy action’ is a term being used increasingly in the world of entrepreneurship and productivity; sometimes in a positive way, and sometimes negatively.
In most scenarios, being ‘in action’ - whether it be messy or not - tends to be more productive than procrastination or indecision.
However, in the context of ‘hustle culture’, I will caveat that I do not subscribe to the belief that we should be ‘in action’ all the time, and believe that ‘action’ is only productive in combination with nourishing levels of time to rest, think, feel, connect, be present, and have fun.
Indecision can be paralysing, and many of us put so much pressure on making ‘the right’ decision, and understandably so when it comes to career navigation, and big personal choices. These are things that can impact us heavily for the rest of our lives.
But what about the costs involved in waiting so long to make a decision?
Missed opportunities, increased anxiety, heightened pressure, and lack of direct experience of actually living with the decision we’ve made.
Think about a decision you are putting off right now…
What would be the worst case scenario if you make ‘the wrong’ decision?
And then how would you rectify that, or get ‘back on track’ as such?
Take an example:
You are choosing between going for promotion in your current role in finance vs. a complete career change to event management. Say you choose the more ‘extreme’ option and go for the career change. Worst case scenario, you hate it, and you want your old job back. Sure it may be a bit of an ego hit when you get back in touch with your old boss. But, when you do go back to your finance job, won’t you get so much more out of it knowing you no longer have that doubt?
Some may even argue that making ‘the wrong’ decision is actually better for our overall learning, as we end up contextualising our positive experiences and appreciating them more as opposed to always making the right decisions and never having any bad experiences.
The trouble is, we can never truly know if something is going to work for us until we are doing it. Which is why getting stuck in planning can be so dangerous. It also traps you into fantasising what each potential path might look like, creating attachments and expectations that could lead to disappointment if a tiny detail doesn’t end up playing out.
So, messy or imperfect action is just about committing to something and knowing that you will get a good lesson out of it, regardless of the outcome.
Then, you can move forward with way more clarity than being stuck in a state of hypothesising.
But how do you do this with a compassionate lens?
Awareness, and acceptance.
First, you need to be aware of the fears involved with the action you are taking…
Are you scared you won’t enjoy it, you might not be good at it, others might judge you etc.?
Once you identify the fear that comes up, that is holding you back from action, you can have compassion towards that fear by accepting that it is there for a reason, and moving forwards alongside it.
The truth is, being scared that someone might judge you for making a certain choice, can’t physically stop you from making that choice. It isn’t the fear that will stop you - it is your relationship with the fear.
By becoming aware of the fear and accepting it with compassion, we can move forwards without needing to fight it.
And to bring this to a real life example, here I am writing my first blog post - aware of my fear of whether people will enjoy it, or even read it at all, but sharing it anyway with acceptance, compassion and excitement!
