Week 8 of my Daily Stoic journal practice
I’m eight weeks into this Daily Stoic practice, and this week hit different. Not because I learned something completely new, but because I finally saw patterns I’ve been carrying for years—patterns that have been quietly sabotaging what I say I want.
Let me explain.
The Run That Proved Everything
I ran 18 miles this week. Eight of those miles were at a harder pace. During the easy miles, my mind was already in the hard miles—creating fear, manufacturing excuses, building the discomfort before I even got there.
Then the hard miles came. I pushed through. And you know what? They weren’t as bad as the anticipation made them seem.
The anticipation of the thing is often harder than the actual execution of it.
I see this pattern everywhere now. Not just in running. In business. In parenting. In every uncomfortable thing I know I should do but keep putting off.
We build things up in our minds. We make them bigger, scarier, harder than they actually are. And that fear—that anticipation—becomes the real obstacle. Not the work itself.
The Sauna Revelation
After my workout, I was in the sauna. A group of younger people were talking about Thanksgiving, about what they can and can’t eat, looking for some hack to stay on track without actually doing the work.
And I recognized myself in them. That used to be me. Always looking for the shortcut. The hack. The easier way.
But the work IS the shortcut.
Do the work long enough and you’ll break through. Keep looking for hacks and you’ll keep going back and forth, never getting anywhere.
I’ve done 75 Hard. I ran 43 miles on my 43rd birthday. I’m on Day 56 of this Stoic practice. Not because I found some secret shortcut. Because I just did the work. Consistently good versus occasionally great.
That’s the only hack that actually works: there are no shortcuts to the life you want.
The Procrastination Pattern I Finally Saw
Here’s where it got uncomfortable this week.
I’ve been procrastinating on my business pivot. Not because the work is hard. Not because I don’t know what to do.
Because I’m attached to the outcome. And attachment creates fear. And fear triggers avoidance.
“What if it doesn’t work?” That question has been running in the background for longer than I want to admit. So instead of doing the outreach work I know I need to do, I scroll. I distract myself. I stay comfortable.
It’s like I’m unintentionally trying to sabotage my own success.
But this week I saw something deeper: my subconscious might actually be clearing space for the pivot I want. Not getting clients through the old system isn’t failure—it’s creating the conditions for transformation.
I’ve done this before. When I left my agency job to start my business, I was internally checked out before I consciously admitted it. Then I made the leap, reached out to everyone in my contact list, and landed a client in two weeks.
Life is a series of patterns. You can learn from your past when it presents itself again. But you have to recognize it. Sometimes it’s hard to see when you’re in the middle of it. That’s where daily reflection helps.
The Doom Scrolling Truth
Let’s be honest about something: I doom scroll. Especially in the evenings when my energy crashes.
It’s easy. It’s comfortable. It requires nothing from me.
But this week I realized—doom scrolling isn’t the problem. It’s the symptom. It’s my subconscious trying to avoid discomfort.
When I catch myself reaching for my phone instead of doing the work I scheduled, it’s not about needing a break. It’s about avoiding something uncomfortable. The question isn’t “should I scroll less?” The question is “what am I avoiding by scrolling?”
For me? I’m avoiding the possibility of doing the work and it not producing the outcome I’m attached to. Better to scroll and never find out than to try and potentially fail.
That’s the real issue underneath the scroll. And recognizing it changes everything.
What I’m Doing Now
Week 8 taught me something simple but hard to live: Now is a gift. Do it now.
Not later when conditions are perfect. Not when I feel more ready. Not when the outcome is guaranteed.
Now.
I’m being present in whatever I’m doing to the best of my abilities. When I’m with my son, I’m there—not thinking about work. When I’m working, I’m doing the work—not scrolling to avoid discomfort. When I’m with my wife, I’m opening up—not keeping things bottled up because it feels safer.
Speaking of opening up: it’s okay to do that. I’ve spent years keeping things internal, thinking I need to figure it all out alone. But you’d be amazed at the insights you get when you actually talk to people. Even strangers in a sauna can reflect back patterns you’ve been blind to.
What’s Different on Day 56 vs Day 1
I know now that this is continued work in progress. There will be great days, good days, bad days. That’s okay.
I can control how I show up regardless.
Day 1 Yves would spiral when plans changed. Would doom scroll without noticing. Would measure success by visible output. Would keep everything bottled up.
Day 56 Yves still struggles with all of that. But I catch it faster. I adjust instead of spiral. I measure by effort and intention. I’m opening up more.
Not because I’m perfect. Because I’m consistently showing up to the work. The daily practice. The uncomfortable conversations. The hard miles even when my mind gives me excuses.
The One Thing
If you take nothing else from this: there are no shortcuts to the life you want.
Not in business. Not in parenting. Not in personal growth. Not in relationships.
The people looking for hacks will keep spinning. The people doing the work—consistently, imperfectly, daily—will break through.
You already know what you need to do. The question is: are you doing it now, or are you waiting for perfect conditions that will never come?
The work is the work. Get through it. The anticipation is worse than the execution. And whatever you’ve been putting off “until later”—now is the time.
There’s no shortcut. But there is a path: consistent daily effort toward what actually matters.
That’s Week 8. That’s the practice.
Now it’s time to actually do the work I’ve been procrastinating on. No more waiting for perfect conditions. No more attachment to guaranteed outcomes. Just effort. Just now.
Let’s see what Week 9 brings.
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