25: How the Feeling of Pointlessness Can Derail Us

Show Notes

Something I’ve noticed that derails a lot of people’s goals or attempts to form habits is the feeling that it’s pointless to even try.

If it feels like it won’t matter if you do anything … why would you try? And so when people feel this, they will usually give up, understandably.

But if we want to break through this barrier, then the opportunity is to learn how to work with this feeling of pointlessness.

Let’s look at how to recognize the feeling of pointlessness, and then how you might work with it to create something new. 👉🏻 https://my.orangenomad.com/podcast

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Something that I've noticed the
derails a lot of people's goals

or attempts to form new habits.

Is the feeling that it's
pointless to even try.

If it feels like it won't matter if
you do anything, why would you try.

So when people feel like
this, they usually give up.

And it's a pretty understandable.

But what if we want to break through
that barrier, then the opportunity

here is to learn how to work with
these feelings of pointlessness.

If we can find a way to feel
empowered when things feel pointless.

A whole new range of possibilities
open for up, open up for us,

including the possibility of moving
through the most difficult parts

of a project or a habit change.

What would it be like if you worked
with the desire to give up when

things felt hard and pointless?

Let's look at how to recognize the feeling
of pointlessness and then how you might

work with it to create something new.

So, how do we recognize
feelings of pointlessness?

It can be difficult to
recognize this stumbling block.

So let's look at some common ways.

Uh, of what it might
look like in your life.

You missed a few days of a new habit.

Maybe it's a workout
meditation journaling.

And you feel discouraged
and you want to give up.

The reason is the
feeling of pointlessness.

Ah, I know I'm never going to get this.

I suck.

I can't do it.

You think no one is going to care.

You want to write a book or blog for
example, but you have the feeling that

you're writing it and no one will read it.

That feels pointless.

So you might not even try.

You want to sign up for something
that could change your life?

Maybe it's a new course.

Maybe it's some coaching or a
mastermind group, for example.

But you think you won't
actually pour yourself into it.

So.

You won't get value out of it.

What's the point.

If I'm not even going to show up for it.

You feel overwhelmed by the huge pile
of tasks, clutter email in front of you.

And you feel like you can't tackle
all of it, so you don't even start.

It feels like too much, like
something you can handle.

So it feels pointless to even try.

Every time you give your best effort,
things return back to where they were.

No matter how hard I try things
just end up the same way.

So you just give up.

Or you feel like you have the
same conversation with someone and

it's just not getting anywhere.

It's frustrating.

Because you're going around in circles.

It's pointless to even
try with this person.

So it's best to just exit.

Fire them quit breakup.

Ghost them.

You were giving your best effort
and then you got derailed by

something out of your control.

Maybe you got injured, maybe you got sick.

Maybe it was someone else's mistakes
or crisis or world events, a pandemic.

Why even try.

You feel lost in the unknown?

It's better to stick with what, you know.

Or you're so far behind with bills
that it feels impossible to catch up.

So you ignore them.

You can see in all of these situations.

That it applies to just
about everything in life.

Wanting to meditate.

Date, declutter exercise.

Get out of debt, create
something meaningful.

Build an amazing team.

This feeling of pointlessness
stops us on all fronts.

But it's time to take it on.

How do we do that?

How do we work with that struggle?

There's nothing wrong with feeling
pointless, the feeling of pointlessness

at times, it's it's human feeling.

It's human nature.

The difficulty comes when we believe
it and we make it mean something.

So my encouragement is to make
it mean nothing other than it's

just how it feels right now.

That's meaningful to the extent that
we can always care about how we feel.

I feel sad, lonely, uplifted,
curious, playful, angry.

They matter, but they're
not the entire world.

Feel the feeling, give it some compassion.

Breathe.

So we have to take it head on just like
we talked about in the last episode.

Then we've got to find a
way to feel more empowered.

Missing one or two days is
just an expected part of the

process of learning and growth.

Messiness is a part of life.

Something beautiful to love and embrace.

This coming from a perfectionist.

If no one will read a single word of my
writing, would there still be something

powerful for me in the writing process?

If I keep ending up in the same place, is
there something for me to look at here?

Something that I could learn from it?

Would that make these repeated attempts
valuable to me, if I learned something.

If I keep failing to finish
a course or a program.

Is there an opportunity
to shift something?

To shift, maybe change gears to something
that would be more powerful for me.

What would it look like if I
changed this pattern forever?

Could I let myself be curious
when I'm lost in the unknown.

If I'm far behind, could I focus
just on taking the next step?

If I have a mountain of tasks.

Could I love the activity
of climbing that mountain.

Could I find joy in each step.

What would it look like to find meaning
in the place that feels pointless?

Let me know what things that you feel
are hard and pointless for you right now.

Maybe we can tackle these together.

I'll see in the next episode.