We’re all going to die (unless we create AI that makes us immortal). When we’re buried, our headstone will have our name, the date of our birth, and the date of our death. Between those two dates we have a dash that represents our life. When a Bishop told me this over dinner last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Many of us struggle with our mortality. To help ourselves deal with it, we’ve commoditized every aspect to make it more comfortable (coffins with mattresses, for example). I believe our subconscious knowledge of our impending end drives many towards motivation and I often find myself getting sucked into it.

Last week, I saw an excellent excerpt of an interview with Mel Robbins that challenged motivation as a farce. In short, our biggest barrier to achieving anything is our brain. They’re wired to protect us from harm, and this protection is presented as hesitation. The ability to push past hesitation separates effective people from the pack.

I’m not saying we don’t need a pep talk from time to time, but when push comes to shove we have to stop thinking about doing things and just get them done. Start somewhere and keep the momentum going. If you can’t get by your natural hesitation, no amount of Tony Robbins conferences or Gary Vaynerchuk videos will help.

PPS: This is coming in late this week because I hesitated. 🙄