It’s easy to get lost in a bubble and tell ourselves that everything will work itself out. We become scared to examine the feedback in our lives. That’s the road of slow decline toward a total collapse.
The total collapse is hastened because of the fear of facing the reality of the feedback or data we get.
Don’t run from the numbers. Don’t run from the feedback.
Look at your bank accounts. Look at the numbers. Look at the analytics no matter how uncomfortable they are at any moment. Seek out the data. It’s your friend. It should motivate you toward your goals.
When we have the data or the feedback, we can make a plan and do the work that matters to eliminate stress from our life.
The crazy thing is that the feedback, the numbers, and the emails are virtually never as bad as we imagine them to be. We build monsters from shadows.
Julius Caesar has a quote: “As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men’s minds more seriously than what they see.”
The single greatest source of anxiety in my life is reading my emails. I'd have nightmares about running into a problem that would derail a day of work. But if I don't check my email, it nags at me all day like a constant squeezing pressure. Sometimes I go all week without checking my email and the pressure becomes incredible.
Personally, I’m working on genuinely believing what Caesar said. Because frankly, never (even a single time) has it been as bad as I imagined it to be.
I should probably go check my email now.