Smack Dat (Half-)Ass
Here's to half-assing it, cheers! š¾
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Hello friend!
Welcome to the 19th issue of Inward Ventures, my weekly share of what Iām working on and fiddling around with. I share thoughts and ideas I come across in my continuing quest for self-improvement, productivity, and education for myself and my coaching clients. I strive to excel in my writing, creativity, and, wellā¦ LIFE. Thanks for being here. Ok, letās get down to brass tacks.
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Half-ass
INFORMAL
verb
do (something) with little effort or care.
"they half-assed the redesign."
adjective
done with little effort or care.
"he did a half-ass job."
Yes, Iām gonna tell you to start half-assing things.
I know, I know, hear me out! Thisāll be a 5 min read, and as is my wish for my readers, a 5 minute think, followed by 5 minutes of A.C.T.I.O.N.
I feel like I always have to insert the usual THIS OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT APPLY if youāre prepping a patient for surgery, staring down your first time at a double black diamond ski trail, or have a million-dollar contract on the table at work. Cāmon, you KNOW what Iām referring to.
Those things
Iām talking (tawkinā) about THOSE things. We all have THOSE things in our lives, yāknow the ones that hover around us, that we know we should do, heck, we WANT to do many of them!
What stops us? We donāt think we have that precious resource to get started, time. We donāt have an hour to make that phone call or take that yoga class. You donāt have 30 minutes to walk the dog, or 2 hours to clean the house, or a free weekend to start that DIY project. We don't think we have enough time.
Iām calling BS on that incomplete sentence. We donāt think we have enough time to do it perfectly. Amirite?
While Iām better with this now, I struggled in the past, and at times, I still do. I have to gently remind myself that most things* donāt have to be done perfectly; they just have to be done.
I donāt have to have a perfect workout; I can half-ass it. And of course, Iām going to use a workout analogy; cāmon, this is me!
If I donāt have an hour, twenty minutes will do.
If equipment isnāt available, I can skip or substitute it
If my effort isnāt what Iād like it to be, so what? Maybe I didnāt sleep well, or Iām coming down with something. š¤·āāļø
If I forgot my Garmin watch (headphones etc.) and now I canāt track my steps or heart rate, listen to music, etc., Toughen up, buttercup! Pretend itās the 70s when savages like my dad would run for HOURS without music or trackers. He didnāt even wear a hat; he wore a sweatband! #gross He ran in silence and tracked mileage using his carās odometer. #beastmode šŖš¼
What that all boils down to is: SO WHAT. A half-assed workout is still better than NO workout.
-- minutes is better than zero minutes
How many calls have I put off because I think I donāt have the time? I still fall into this trap. I donāt have an hour to catch up with Sharon, so Iāll NOT call her. As I type that, it sounds so silly and see-through.
Just call. A 10-minute phone call is better than NO phone call.
My paint by numbers experiment was a huge success for this reason.
I didnāt create a huge barrier with getting started. It was inexpensive, didnāt require classes, or buying lots of intimidating supplies. I made this for the whopping investment of $9.99 (and 6 weeks of short but consistent bouts of painting.)
Full disclosure, as I went along enjoying the process more and more, I did put more time and money into it, buying better quality brushes, a book, and watching videos on technique with acrylics. Iām in love and officially have a new hobby.
This isnāt huge for me, but itās a common one out there: no time to cook/ prepare food. Whoops, I meant a perfect meal. Thereās that word again!
I gave this up years ago. No more one-at-a-time individual meals. I make batches of veggies and protein in big batches and have leftovers for 3 days and then repeat.
Do I LOVE a good meal thatās been made fresh and not reheated? Of course! I realized, though, that for me cooking was often a giant, sometimes overwhelming time-suck, a pain-in-the-can, frankly. In exchange for half-assing dinner (by defaulting to perpetual leftovers), I ended up with more time out of the kitchen and fewer dishes to clean. Less cleaning? Iām sold!
Maybe half-assing food for you means ordering meal prep kits or buying pre-cut or steamable veggies or pre-cooked proteins. Who cares? Maybe itās an entire meal service with portioned meals for a week. So what? It doesnāt have to be perfect; it just has to be done. *This is not a free pass for daily pizza or McDonalds, wiseguy.*
So, where can you half-ass a project or situation in your life?
At work? A big project youāre dreading, and you only have 15 min? Perfect. Establish a new password, gather necessary documents, set up your Asana or Trello board. Just get started. 15 minutes is better than ā¦ you get it.
Applying to grad school? Chunk it down; what are the steps? Take 15 minutes and start locating programs. Just find them, donāt dig deeper. Remember, youāre half-assing it. Just pull up IDK, letās say, 10-12 programs.
Later take another 15 minutes and start going through the programs. Start weeding out what you know you donāt want. Donāt look for the perfect program (or doctor, a new car, job posting, or book topic to write about). This a half-assed attempt!
Next 15 minutes, put in another consistent, focused bout of work. 15 minutes is long enough. But, but, butā¦ itās gonna take forever to write my book/find a job/apply to grad school this way!
PFFFFFFT
That is the sound of me taking the air outta your Excuse Balloon.
I mean, youāve been putting it off for how long already? Whatās another week, or 3, or even a year to get this done? This is how Iāve made much progress on my book, a little bit every day.
PRAS - A modern disease
What can you do in 5 min? How about this colossal PITA: Reset a password.
Do you know how many times I have put off doing certain things, like logging into my health insurance account, because I dreaded knowing I would have to go through the onerous āForgot Your Password?ā garbage? More times than I would like to admit! I have Password Reset Avoidance Syndrome. I just made that up, but itās a true #firstworldproblem
The solution is: accept youāre going to do a half-ass job, and all youāre going to get done is the password reset. Not doing the project or finding the doctor or paying the bill or making the stained glass, or writing the chapter. Just reset the password:
pull out your craft supplies from storage; thatās all
organize the wires/cables, no more
find the websites, email contacts you need, write the email later
locate the missing document, file it later
You might find momentum and make more progress than that. If so, cool! If not, thatās cool too. You did the hard part, the prep; going back will be easier now.
This leads me to the wrap-up.
Start half-assed, finish strong.
THIS IS KEY. When youāre finished, set yourself up for success by making your next experience easier.
Post-workout: I rinse my shaker bottle, put it in the drain, place my HR strap and workout notebook (yes, I am old) in my gym bag for next time.
Painting: I rinse my brushes, lay them out to dry, line them up for next time with my paints, make sure all lids and caps are set.
Book: I save the docs, do a word count, text accountability partners with word count and streak, organize my papers on the desk with the outline and chapter breakdown.
Password Reset: WRITE DOWN new password LOL
Start half-assed, finish strong. You can do it! šŖš¼
Itās a new mantra, a new acronym! #shafs
Letās do it, babycakes šÆ
Whatcha got for me? Please email me or comment below; Iāll gladly respond in more detail. As always, I promise I will do whatever I can to be there for you and to support you. HIT.ME.UP. I mean it! š
Need an accountability partner? Writing (or working out or WHATEVER?) lemme know š I trade daily word counts; itās quick, fun, and motivating, I promise!
Thanks for sharing and forwarding my posts and emailing me questions and little wins ~ you guys are the best! Keep the mail cominā!
This gives me new wind under my wings. (as I pick up these logs AGAIN!) Thank you Dearie. Thank you for your generosity. xoxoxo