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Aim at nothing and get it.
Starve Anxiety and Depression with Focused Action
Too much to do. I get it. As you learned in the article about specialization, you cannot do all things well…you’re trying to do too much and that’s wrecking you mentally. Because this is a website all about men’s self help, that’s what I’m going to offer you: a way to help yourself focus on meaningful goals and hit them. Along the way, you will eliminate doubt, anxiety, and depression, or at least keep them at bay. Focused action is medicine for anxiety and depression and a cornerstone of men’s self help. Give it a fair try and see.
The Evil Twins
Recall that anxiety is a mental state of future focused, irrational fear: unresolved conflict about the unknown. Something in the future that may not happen the way we’d like, or may not happen at all. Not having the answers to how things will turn out tomorrow has your guts in a knot. You might be so consumed with fear that you try to distract yourself with pleasure: spending money, smoking weed, drinking too much, porn, gambling, video games, or endless hours of T.V., yet the anxiety remains. Men aren’t good at asking for help, that’s why men’s self help is so damn important. If we can learn to help ourselves first, we might be willing to ask others for help in the future.
Depression is the evil twin of anxiety. Depression thrives in the dark and is fed by negative thinking. It’s like throwing the ultimate pity party but you’re the only one invited. When you feed depression it grows horns and only gets worse. Just like anxiety, depression is a collection of dysfunctional and irrational thoughts. Lies you tell yourself on repeat that wear you down. A depressed man is a lonely man, and that is simply no way to live.
The Solution
Want to rid yourself of anxiety and depression? Start with focus. Be an arrow with a target because by giving your attention to a meaningful goal you will starve the bad stuff. Kill anxiety and depression with action. Move. Take your ass and your mind will follow. Pick one goal, aim at it, and execute. Focused action is the medicine for anxiety and depression, so why not give it a shot? It’s free and the most effective way to feel better, right now.
I teach clients to create a singleness of purpose: a focus so intense that they can no longer become trapped in mental states of anxiety and depression. When laser focused on a meaningful goal there simply isn’t time to worry or feel depressed, but this technique requires a specific goal and dedication. Pick a goal you can work on and will work on. Something that’s important to you. When you feel yourself drifting back into the past or borrowing problems from the future, reorient yourself to the present moment and aim at your goal. Pick one thing today you can begin working towards, get off your ass, and get to work.
Focus, aim, execute, repeat.
If you aim at something you’ll hit it.
Move the damn needle.
See you in the shop,
Paul
