How the all-or-nothing mentality is sucking your time
And the mantra you can use to stop it
Let’s face it, 2021 has been an awesome year for so many people. Entrepreneurs bounced back from all the negative effects of Covid-19 and the lockdown in 2020. People are “leveling-up”, getting their strategies right, re-organizing their life and business priorities based on what really matters to them.
So many people are getting it right so far this year.
Not me though. I’m a mess.
For me, this year has been a slow spiral of events going in the wrong direction. I may have learned lessons from the lock-down, but I’m not applying them at all. Ok, maybe just a bit.
But this article is not just about my problems. It’s about the underlying mentality I have been operating in for years without notice, that has slowly taken away huge chunks of my time (and it might be affecting you more than you think).
I call it the All-Or-Nothing Mentality or “thinking in extremes”. This is when you are determined that you are either going to do something as perfectly as you can, or you won’t do anything at all.
But that sounds horrible, right? Why would anybody in their right senses want to do that? But we do it without realizing. A basic example is when you decided you won’t create content on Friday evening because you didn’t feel “motivated”. You were fully capable of creating content. You probably had most of the things you needed to do it, but you didn’t because you felt like you wouldn’t be putting in 100% effort.
And please don’t try to excuse yourself by saying that you produce the best work when you are in a certain mood or whatever. Because you will never be absolutely ready. Perfect life circumstances do not exist.
So what can you do about it?
Here are a few practical steps to avoid the all-or-nothing mentality:
1. Don’t change your schedule because you’re running late.
Sounds familiar right? Well, I still did it sometimes this year. Just because you woke up a little later than usual doesn’t mean you should not attempt to do your morning routine. Even if you have to shorten the time for some tasks, don’t just resolve that you can’t do it at all because you don’t have the time anymore.
When I wake up late in the morning, I start my morning routine as usual and try to rush through the ones I can. So, I speed up my exercise or shorten it a few minutes, and rush through routine tasks like brushing and bathing. If I can, I still glance at my morning read for a few minutes before heading off to work (I said if I can, so I don’t kill myself if I don’t eventually get to do it that morning).
Whenever you are late for something, just start doing the job even if you know time will interrupt you. When the time for the task is over, just stop it and move to something else. Do not, by any means, allow yourself to work on that task longer than you should, except it is an emergency and you have no choice.
2. Don’t wait for days of motivation.
I take every solid chance I ever get to say that I am an enemy of motivation. Not that I don’t like it when it comes, but it’s just not something that you can rely on. I was not motivated for more than a few days in the entire month of April this year, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get any work done.
The truth is that being motivated usually helps us get a better job done on the first start. But you see, that is the problem. The rule is not to get it done perfectly well on the first start. It’s to do the best job possible within whatever time you have. Never use the work you do on days when you are motivated as a yardstick to measure your productivity on other random days.
“Work is not supposed to be a set of tasks done in the few days of motivation. It is meant to be a set of small or medium actions done continuously over a set time to achieve results.”
3. Don’t overwork yourself when the new ideas come. However, create a framework and pace yourself.
So, even though you cannot rely on motivation, it doesn’t mean you should not use it when it comes. But you need to know how to use it. When next you feel super energized and ready to do tons of work, don’t focus on just one singular activity, however, focus on developing or modifying the existing framework of your tasks. Ok, let me explain:
As a content creator, my major channels are my blog (Medium), Instagram, Youtube, Anchor and Pinterest. So, let’s assume I get so energized when I want to create content. Instead of putting all that energy into just one Pinterest post or one paragraph of my latest article, I should first take a look at something that has been bothering me about my content calendars or maybe create new broad ideas I can work with for creating content in the months to come.
This way, your motivation serves you for a longer period of time, not just for the specific work you’re doing that day.
But I know that it’s not all the time you may need to do all these things I just said. So if you have it all figured out already, move ahead and put that energy into your tasks.
4. “Don’t lose momentum”
This phrase is the mantra helping me get over the all-or-nothing mentality. I was so angry with myself after I realized how much time I’d lost this year because of it.
To remind myself to stop, I pinned up three posters in my apartment all with the statement “Don’t lose momentum” handwritten on A4 Papers with my permanent marker. It’s just a subtle reminder to myself that every day is supposed to consist of small actions, which sum up over time to produce tangible results.
I don’t have to waste a day because I feel like I won’t work as well as I ought. Or because I’m scared the outcome won’t be so good. The goal is to increase my pace daily by consistently doing the little things.
So, even if you’re scared you may go back to practicing the all or nothing mentality after reading this, please take out a large piece of paper and write the mantra “Don’t lose momentum” on it, an make sure you pin it somewhere you will see it when you wake up every day.
And no matter how small the effort you put in everyday is, I’m certain it’s still taking you a bit closer to your goals.
And may the force be with you (PS. The force is not motivation).
Thanks for reading!
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