“I learned this in SEAL training,” said Chadd Wright, “the evolution that we lost the most guys on during hell week was this: the instructors set two cones out on the beach. They put the class out there and they said, ‘All right, run from one cone to the other‘, it was a one mile stretch.
“And they just said, ‘keep doing that until we tell you to stop.’ It was just a one mile run back and forth up and down the beach there in front of the ocean at your own pace. We got a couple hours into this thing and guys just were just quitting like in droves. And I’m like, “What is going on? Why are all these dudes quitting?” Like, well, the reason they were all quitting is because the instructors didn’t tell us that this is a 4-hour evolution. They just said, “You’re going to keep doing this.” And we were in hell week, so we knew it could go on for 3 or 4 days if they wanted it to. They couldn’t see the end. Everybody’s looking for a finish line, and there’s no finish line in life.”
We have ambiguity aversion. There’s an innate dislike of the unknown. It’s part of our system.
But we know this. We can use this.
Last fall my dryer was “crying”. It was making a squeaking noise that got louder each cycle. I’ve never fixed a dryer before and felt the ambiguity: what if I break this more, what if it’s challenging, what if it’s electronics, what if I hurt myself, etc.
There were two problems: the broken dryer and my feelings around it.
Well fixing my feelings (and the dryer) was just a YouTube video away. Of course there was somebody, fixing the same washer (the only difference was the color of the machine), who posted an amazing tutorial. Thanks to u/Bearded Appliance Repair, and one Amazon parts order, the dryer got fixed.
For those things floating from to-do list to to-do list because they don’t get done, there are really two things to address. The thing, and our feelings about it.
The Waiter's Pad 