Do the One Thing You’re Avoiding

How tackling the smallest avoided task builds the kind of confidence that lasts.

There’s something you’re avoiding right now. You’ve thought about it three times today already.

Avoidance feels helpful at first.
You push the task aside, feel the tension drop, and convince yourself you’ll handle it “later.”

But the relief is temporary.

Your mind keeps tapping you on the shoulder, replaying the thing you’re putting off. And eventually you realize it’s not the task that exhausts you — it’s the cycle of remembering it, avoiding it, and feeling guilty about avoiding it.

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Where the Mental Training Began

I learned all of this long before I ever cared about habit psychology.

It really started in college, on the rowing team, where the workout everyone feared was the 2k test. Six or seven minutes of going all-out — heart rate in the 190s, vision narrowing, every muscle screaming.

When those tests were scheduled in the afternoon, I’d spend the whole day thinking about it. Not consciously stressing but carrying this quiet pressure in the background. The anticipation was its own workout.

But the mornings were different.

On the days we trained from 5–8 a.m., you’d stumble into the facility half-awake, dread still in your chest, but once the workout started, the fear dissolved. You’d finish, shattered and euphoric at the same time, and walk to class knowing you’d already lived a full day before most people even woke up.

And on the days someone hit a new best time, we’d pile into a car and go to McDonald’s afterward — all of us wrecked and laughing. It was the kind of “Type 2 fun” my coach always talked about. The kind you don’t enjoy in the moment, but you remember forever.

That period of my life quietly rewired my brain. That’s where I first heard

“Embrace the Suck,”

years before my own 3½-year streak of daily exercise. The idea that something could be painful and meaningful at the same time — that the discomfort was part of the reward — stuck with me.

And somewhere in those years, I realized something important:
starting the hard thing was the real skill.

Once you began, the body followed.
The mind followed.
Momentum followed.

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When Discipline Became Identity

Somewhere along the way, all those years of “embrace the suck” stopped being about workouts and started becoming a part of who I was. The reps, the streaks, the 5 a.m. practices — they didn’t just build fitness. They built an identity.

I didn’t notice it at the time, but looking back, there was a moment when something in my mind quietly shifted.

I went from hoping I could handle hard things to assuming I would.

The proof was already there.

That’s what my “Go One More” tattoo means now. Not motivation, not hype — but a reminder that every day is a gift, and you honor that gift by showing up fully. To contribute. To grow. To learn, love, challenge yourself, and squeeze meaning out of the time you’re given. It’s not about squeezing out another rep. It’s about squeezing out a fuller life.

Over time, that discipline turned into a quiet confidence:

if I say I’m going to do something, I do it.

Not because I’m perfect or wired differently, but because I’ve built up enough evidence to trust myself. Morning after morning, workout after workout, writing session after writing session — I kept showing up, even when I didn’t want to. And eventually, the consistency became its own kind of identity. Not loud, not performative — just steady proof of who I was becoming.

Photo taken after a long rowing practice in windy, rainy conditions. Hence all the blisters.

That identity follows me everywhere now. In my work. In the way I invest. In how I train. In how I show up in my relationship with my fiancée and the friendships I want to last a lifetime.

I believe in long-term games with long-term people, and you don’t get lasting results without doing the hard things along the way.

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The Simple System That Actually Works

If there’s one habit that’s changed how I move through my days, it’s this. And it has nothing to do with athletics — it applies to everything: work, relationships, decisions, conversations, responsibilities, all of it.

1. Ask yourself:

What’s the one thing I’m avoiding?

Not the biggest thing.
Not the most urgent thing.
The avoided thing — the one that creates a tiny spark of tension when it crosses your mind.

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2. Shrink it down.

Name the smallest possible version of that task.

• One email

• One call

• One text

• One first step

• One sentence written

• One item cleaned or handled

Small isn’t weakness, small is what gets you moving.

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3. Do that before you do anything easy.

Before you check a single low-effort box.
Before the comfortable tasks steal your morning.
Before your brain can talk you out of it.

Do the avoided thing first and watch how the rest of your day expands.

Because this isn’t just about productivity.
This is about leadership, clarity, emotional stability, self-trust.
It’s about handling the hard things, so they stop following you around.

Avoiding them drains you the same way.
Doing them frees you the same way.

Another perk of Type 2 Fun is enjoying beautiful sunrises :)

Closing

In the end, doing the thing you’ve been avoiding isn’t about discipline for discipline’s sake. It’s about building a life where you can trust yourself — a life where you don’t let fear, friction, or hesitation quietly steer the wheel.

You don’t need to overhaul your routines.
You don’t need to transform overnight.
You don’t need to wake up and become a different person.

You just need to handle one avoided thing a day.

That’s it.

Because every time you do, you reinforce the same quiet message:
“I can count on myself.”

And that kind of trust compounds.
It shapes how you show up in your work, your relationships, your health, your future.
It changes the way you move through the world.

Do the avoided thing first.
Let the rest of the day get lighter.
Let your confidence build quietly.

See you next week.