Overthinking is the grandmother of procrastination. I bet you didn’t see that on the family tree, but she’s up there next to grandfather Why Bother.
And here’s something else that you may know but have forgotten, it’s the ultimate creative vibe killer, especially when it comes to writing.
Somebody cue Kendrick:
I can feel your energy from two planets away. I got my drink, I got my music, I would share it but today I’m yelling, b!tch don’t kill my vibe.
You know this and yet, you still overthink.
For many reasons, one of which is so simple that even Geico’s Cave Man (shout out to those old commercials) knows this: You are afraid to pull the trigger on your writing because you are TERRIFIED of what others will think. And then you tell Bonita Applebum, the one person who believes everything is TRASH and she has a never-ending list about why X won’t work and what happened when she tried it.
Here’s the deal, the reason why you told Bonita is because she’s the expert at assisting people who are scared of their greatness. You keep Bonita on speed dial because you want to be regular schmegular. You are not ready for your Cardi B glow up. All of Bonita’s commentary feeds the doubt you already had or creates doubt that didn’t exist there before. It’s a lose-lose situation. None of this is good for your creative brain. Alexa, play Cardi B’s Get Up 10.
One of my favorite stories about two guys who had an idea about renting out a place to sleep but didn’t overthink a damn thing comes from the founders of Airbnb. They started by renting three mattresses to guest and offering them bagels the next morning. That international company, the one that started with three AIR mattresses, is now valued at 10 billion.
Imagine what would have happened if the founders of Airbnb called Bonita Applebum? She would have laughed them right into poverty and left them crying on a stinking pile of forgotten dreams.
Here’s my advice: Don’t text Bonita. Stop overthinking. Pull the trigger. Get started.
Oh, and watch this video.
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