Have you ever just had one of those weeks? Of course you have had one of those weeks, everybody has had one of those weeks before, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, we all have those weeks. More often than we'd like to admit things just don't go the way we would like. Those hard weeks where you just think, “Man, I wish I had stayed in bed.” Steven Pressfield called this “resistance” in his book The War of Art. He described “resistance” as a force in existence that actively works against us to keep us from reaching our fullest potential and true calling. I am not sure he is right, but it was an interesting concept and it is certainly more fun to think about than the week just sucking with no explanation. (I’ll include a link in case you are interested in reading it)
My week has been that way since at least Saturday. It’s Tuesday now and it’s just one thing after another. I took on an extra shift at work this weekend, which would normally be a fairly calm and easy day, and just got hammered all day with problems. That was after the last day of my normal work week was just horrendous, I walked into just a storm of fail and wrong. I got to work early that day and knew that everything was going to be bad all day. We had things failing and going wrong. The people involved were already in over their heads just from lack of experience with the problems occuring. So my nice quiet weekend at work turned into just a storm of headache after headache after headache. I was so glad when I hit the end of my shift on Sunday. The problem with that is that while working an extra day brings in a little extra income, which is always nice, it does put me behind on the things I do on my days off. So, I started my work weekend, which are the days I don't go to my normal paying job but produce all of the content for The Fallible Man for the week. I work more hours on the three days I work on The Fallible Man every week than I do in my normal 40 hour work week.
On Monday things just kept happening that took my attention from my normal work on The Fallible Man and I kept having to switch up and take care of some other things going on around my home. When I finally managed to get a chance to drill down and get some work done my brain was just fried. I just could not get my brain into gear, I was staring at my computer screen and my brain was so exhausted already that I was just staring at a blank screen. No matter how hard I willed myself to dig down and get the work done, there was just nothing in the tank. I'm on a diet right now so my calorie intake is a little lower which makes my energy levels little lower and apparently I was just out of juice. I finally had to walk away from my computer and just wash my hands of it for the night. I am highly against quitting anything but there is a point where your body and your brain tells you “No” and you can't overrule it anymore. So I went to bed pretty early last night.
So today I hit the ground running and got a bunch of things done right off the bat that were on my punch list. Good start to the day right? Things were progressing nicely and I was setting up to record a couple episodes of the podcast and something went wrong with the audio. It took an hour of testing trying to determine where the failure was in the setup to find out exactly what was causing the issue. Then take another 30 or 40 minutes to figure out a temporary solution and work around so I could get anything done. Normally I record 2 episodes every week but unfortunately this week with all of the technical difficulties I only managed to get one done and that was it.
I have no doubt that all of you can identify with the kind of week I'm having. In fact, I'm sure while the story word for word may not be exactly the kind of crap you've dealt with it pretty much sums up some of your weeks. We all know exactly how frustrating and tiring that it can be when it just feels like the week is spinning out of control and downhill.
The question becomes what do you do when you run into a week like this? Do you let it derail your intentions or your hard work? Do you let it sidetrack you or prevent you from achieving your goals? If you're reading this then you're probably part of The Fallible Man family and I doubt it's you that I'm talking about. If you've been part of the family for a while you know that fallible men and, in my opinion real men in general, value resilience, resolve and fortitude. I will be the first one to admit that I did not get everything done that I intended on getting done. That's the reality when you get sidetracked and life is pushing you back, initially part of me wanted to get frustrated and throw my hands up and just quit for the week. After all the computer problems at work this weekend and having to rebuild one of my computers at home this weekend while I was off, I was just not ready for the primary computer I used to do all this to start having problems as well. It would have been incredibly easy to just wipe my hands of it for the week, I already have this week's episode set up to go live tomorrow morning and I don't have to have one recorded tonight. I work ahead just to make sure that I'm covered when life sidetracks me. We all have those times where things come up like emergency trips , family emergencies, or just needing to take care of household emergencies. So I work ahead to make sure I always have one or two episodes ahead of where I am on my release schedule.
I would be really bad at doing the things I tell you guys to do if I let a minor technical problem sidetrack me that badly. Due to my schedule I only managed to record one episode instead of two when the technical difficulties cost me several hours that were dedicated for recording my show. However, I didn't quit or give up. I worked through the problem and didn't let it beat me.
Yes, I missed the mark on what I wanted to achieve but it did not keep me from achieving and getting stuff done.
So how is your week going? Are you identifying with what I'm talking about? Has the week been beating you up?
Men are not perfect. We get tired and we get worn out. We get frustrated and struggle. Men don't give up and don't quit.
This is for all of you out there who are struggling with a hard week, if you're having a great week that's awesome , just bookmark this for later. This is for all of you having a hard week.
I believe in you.
I know you can do it.
I know you will find a way
and I know you will persevere.
We just released a new design last week that I had no idea was aimed at myself as much as anyone else. It is a reminder for all of us having that kind of day, week, month or year. It says,
"Inveniam Viam Aut Faciam"
It is Latin for "I shall either find a way or make one."
Be Relentless!
My sweatshirt will be here tomorrow, I ordered it before the week got this bad.
Thanks for joining me,
The Fallible Man
Be better tomorrow because of what you do today!
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