Stop Spending All Your Free Will on Your To-Do List

But today I want to factor in the like crazy cocktail, I don't even have a better phrase for it, that represents what is going on with our thoughts when we couple together the following factors.

One, the fact that social media has pretty much brainwashed us into believing that everything lives in extremes.

And if you haven't noticed that before, the next time you open your Instagram, you could do it right now while you're listening to me.

go read a lot of the hooks, like the first few seconds of a reel or like the text that you see on the screen within those first couple of seconds or that first set of texts that appears on like a carousel swipe.

And you will notice that everything like lives on one end or the other.

So you take that environment coupled with the fact that those extremes are people typically telling you how to do something based on their experience, which is, that's fine.

And then you take people like us who derive a lot of satisfaction, confidence, and just like worth off of getting things done and having accomplishments and accolades and all the good things to show for it.

And you mix it all together.

And then... you realize that you forget that you have free will and there's more than one way to do something and this came up for a friend and I who she texted me like maybe by the time I'm recording this episode I don't know this was like almost three weeks ago at this point but on a random like Wednesday and she was like hey like I'm in your neighborhood do you want to grab lunch today and And when she messaged me, I was so quick to say, like, my first thought was like, I don't have time.

I need to go record a podcast.

I have to get a few things done for a client.

I was like working on a proposal for something else.

I also needed to make a piece of content for that day.

And I like didn't wake up as early as I wanted to, if I remember correctly.

And this was probably like the second or third time that she had just like recently been in the area and told me like, oh, if you want to grab lunch, if you're free and never like any pressure.

But when I considered the fact that this was not the first time in like a series of maybe like a two month span that she had mentioned to me, I had turned her down those other times because like I objectively like had a meeting on my calendar, like an actual conflict.

And this one I didn't, I didn't even have any meetings that day.

I just knew I had this to-do list that I really wanted to get through.

And my first thought was like, I don't have time to do that.

And as I caught myself saying that, I was like, of course I have time to do this.

Because if there's one reminder I can get you to just repeat to yourself today, throughout the rest of this week, and make a mantra for yourself, the person who is listening to this that really derives a lot of satisfaction off of productivity, that maybe you're also the person who feels guilty with the idea of resting.

Maybe you're like me and the thought of taking a nap, you're like, my body is not even capable of doing that.

I want you to remember you always get it done.

Like any time that you doubt the fact that you feel short for time or you feel what I'm about to get into with this concept of like, hello, you have free will to exercise.

I need you to legitimately look for evidence for all of the ways that you have always gotten it done.

But today I want to factor in the like crazy cocktail, I don't even have a better phrase for it, that represents what is going on with our thoughts when we couple together the following factors.

One, the fact that social media has pretty much brainwashed us into believing that everything lives in extremes.

And if you haven't noticed that before, the next time you open your Instagram, you could do it right now while you're listening to me.

go read a lot of the hooks, like the first few seconds of a reel or like the text that you see on the screen within those first couple of seconds or that first set of texts that appears on like a carousel swipe.

And you will notice that everything like lives on one end or the other.

So you take that environment coupled with the fact that those extremes are people typically telling you how to do something based on their experience, which is, that's fine.

And then you take people like us who derive a lot of satisfaction, confidence, and just like worth off of getting things done and having accomplishments and accolades and all the good things to show for it.

And you mix it all together.

And then... you realize that you forget that you have free will and there's more than one way to do something and this came up for a friend and I who she texted me like maybe by the time I'm recording this episode I don't know this was like almost three weeks ago at this point but on a random like Wednesday and she was like hey like I'm in your neighborhood do you want to grab lunch today and And when she messaged me, I was so quick to say, like, my first thought was like, I don't have time.

I need to go record a podcast.

I have to get a few things done for a client.

I was like working on a proposal for something else.

I also needed to make a piece of content for that day.

And I like didn't wake up as early as I wanted to, if I remember correctly.

And this was probably like the second or third time that she had just like recently been in the area and told me like, oh, if you want to grab lunch, if you're free and never like any pressure.

But when I considered the fact that this was not the first time in like a series of maybe like a two month span that she had mentioned to me, I had turned her down those other times because like I objectively like had a meeting on my calendar, like an actual conflict.

And this one I didn't, I didn't even have any meetings that day.

I just knew I had this to-do list that I really wanted to get through.

And my first thought was like, I don't have time to do that.

And as I caught myself saying that, I was like, of course I have time to do this.

Because if there's one reminder I can get you to just repeat to yourself today, throughout the rest of this week, and make a mantra for yourself, the person who is listening to this that really derives a lot of satisfaction off of productivity, that maybe you're also the person who feels guilty with the idea of resting.

Maybe you're like me and the thought of taking a nap, you're like, my body is not even capable of doing that.

I want you to remember you always get it done.

Like any time that you doubt the fact that you feel short for time or you feel what I'm about to get into with this concept of like, hello, you have free will to exercise.

I need you to legitimately look for evidence for all of the ways that you have always gotten it done.