Move the wall closer to your back

We sometimes refer to situations where the only option is to become focused and make progress as ‘having your back against the wall’. The ‘wall’ is essentially a metaphor for urgency.

When the urgency isn’t felt, when you find yourself getting distracted: instead of wasting precious, finite time waiting for a wall to appear and refocus you, consider how you might move the wall closer to your back:

You could set ambitious timing for your commitments and make them public, you could tell a peer you care about being accountable to, you might even consider making a promise to your future self that you will invest your energy today into things that will benefit them.

For other people, their ‘wall’ may have little to do with deadlines: it could be a chip on their shoulder — a desire to prove themselves right or others wrong, legacy, the need to reach their potential and/or the fear of failing to reach it.

It’s ultimately up to you to figure out what a compelling wall is and, once identified, keeping it close.

Progress seems to be deeply intertwined with our proximity to it.