Yeah for Scott!

Well, I've finsihed The Shrinking Man - and I want people to think about its subliminal message against failurism.

You're sitting at your desk, or slumped in a chair or collapsed on the bed. wherever you are, you are staring into space. There is a mountain of work threatening to swamp you. You know you can't get it all done by the deadline, and you're afraid that everything will go wrong and you'll be a failure.

So what do you do?

You sit staring into space, wondering how you'll find time to do it all - and you do NOTHING!

This is a broader application of Failurism, but I'm sure you recognise the signs. You're frozen into inaction. if somebody came along and asked you to do something else, you'd probably jump at the chance. Alternatively you just get depressed and grumpy, and be anything but a joy to live with.

The answer is, of course, to do one thing at a time. Complete one thing, the pile gets smaller - it's less intimadating, and at least you've accomplished something. You can feel a little better, and because the mountain of work is slightly less daunting, you can approach it with enthusiasm.

Think of Scott.

Even at 2/7 of an inch tall, he did not give up. He never stopped trying to survive the black widow who was equally determined to eat him. Everything was an enormous obstacle to him. He had to find food and water every day. He had to cut his clothes down to size every day. The effort of finding water to satisfy his parched throat involved climbing, scrambling, running for what were miles to him and took an enourmous pphysical effort. Not only would the effort drain him, but he would fall and pull his muscles and bruise his body and jar every bone. But he never gave up.

What was worse, he did all this knowing that in another day or two he would have shrunk to nothing.

I'd have given up.

I'd have done what you are doing - staring into space.

But Scott wouldn't. He needed food for hIs last few days. He had to climb to great heights to get it. He had to be prepared to fight and kill the spider. So he systematically adjusted his clothing, made sandals from sponge, found a way of carrying water, got a pin and made a weapon, got another way and made a climbing hook.

He wouldn't understand failurism.

So the next time you feel overwhelmed with work, think of Scott and do one thing at a time. Don't let it beat you!