Drive the bus

How to handle head trash.

Sometimes all we want to do is get from A to B. Sometimes the work we need to do is simple but we make it complicated. We add unnecessary things, we second-guess things we know, we procrastinate. We have a knack for distraction and we get derailed by doubts.

Anyone who creates anything understands how easily we get in the way of our own progress.

The other day my friend sent me an article he wrote on writer’s block and it reminded me how swiftly our thoughts, particularly our negative thoughts, undermine our ability to just do the thing. They can paralyze us. Amplify our fears. Stop us in our tracks. You start wondering, am I good at this? Am I doing it the right way? Will people like this? Maybe it’s just a waste of time.

If you get stuck in a place like this, here’s an image that helps me get the wheels turning again.

Imagine you’re a bus driver. The simple thing you need to do is drive your bus route. Along the route you pick up passengers. These passengers are your thoughts and feelings. Some are nice and quiet and friendly. They let you drive in peace. But others are loud, obnoxious, defiant, heckling you at every turn from the back, telling you this isn’t the route, you suck at driving, stop driving so fast, etc.

As the bus driver, you have a clear responsibility: drive your route. Be on time. But if you were to listen to each one of the passengers, with all their myriad complaints, you would never be on time. You would never make your route.

Hecklers can heckle all they want, but remember — you’re the bus driver. Put your hands on the steering wheel and step on the gas. Drive the bus.