When faced with resistance, inaction, a temporary paralysis, one can wonder if the goal they initially set for themselves was induced by a fit of inspiration induced by some holiday excursion.
“It is with a celebratory glee; a sort of spiritual awakening I announce I have finished this project! I love you!” I emailed a dear friend of mine.
This book, this project, was the most boring project of my life. Even as I write this, I feel my stomach turn, my shoulders raise up and my jaw clench. I tell you this because you aren’t the first to hear about it; the first to hear about how soul crushing this project was my dear, dear friend who I did this project for.
It seemed as if I was completing a penance. And to be clear, no, I am not for hire to ever do this sort of thing again. It was a favor for a friend—a very, very dear friend.
I spent over 80 hours writing a book and the topic was the new Electronic Medical Health Record being installed. Yes, that is correct. It required watching videos, transcribing those videos, taking screenshots, and placing all of this into standard work. By the end of this project, it was over 100 pages long. A book.
I literally started calculating the hours until I would have this project done. There were moments where viscerally the disdain for pausing a video, rewinding it, and watching it again felt like nails on a chalkboard. In hindsight, as I look down at my little finger, I would gladly have given it up in exchange for those hours. Emphasis on gladly.
Now there are so many different ways to reflect on this situation once a project like this is completed. Because let’s be honest, while you are “in” a project like this the only thing you can think of is getting through it, being done with it, never saying never but committing to never doing it again, but canceling the never so you never have to it again.
And this is why this experience was important. Knowing we can persevere through soul crushing work that robs us of our breath and still be successful, cultivates the fortitude within ourselves needed to overcome the resistance we face when creating our best lives, our best selves .
