Accept the Initial Agitation

Whenever a task comes along that I know I’m going to dread, I remind myself:

“ACCEPT THE INITIAL AGITATION.”

Whether it’s getting out of bed, starting a big work project, or beginning a new hobby, the agitation and unwillingness to do the thing is going to be there.

Dr. Andrew Huberman explains, “The agitation and stress that you feel at the beginning of something—when you’re trying to lean into it and you can’t focus—is just a recognized gate. You have to pass through that gate to get to the focus component.”

We all face the same hurdles each time we try to focus deliberately on something hard. Once you finally convince yourself to get out of bed, you don’t think about it the rest of the day.

Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way writes that we are “A-to-Z thinkers, fretting about A, obsessing over Z, yet forgetting all about B through Y.”

We overthink A (getting out from the warm covers) and Z (completing that big project), but we completely gloss over B-Y (how good you’ll feel once you’re up and caffeinated).

All you had to do was get over that initial agitation.

Once you’re up, the momentum is driving you forward. It’s just about pushing through the inertia.

“The agitation is indeed the doorway to the whole process.”