Should I?

I’ve been beating myself up lately because it feels like I’m not doing enough. Can you relate? I bet you can.

There are a lot of shoulds.

I should work on my Instagram. I should grow my followers. I should start a TikTok and restart my YouTube page. I should network more. I should take a design class. And a drawing class (based on a recent game of Pictionary over Thanksgiving, this one feels urgent). I should write a new blog post and optimize my website. I should send out a newsletter.

I should. I should. I should.

The shoulds are never-ending. And this doesn’t even account for the ones in your personal life.

As the shoulds pile up and compete for your attention—often waking you up at 3 a.m. to plead their case—it’s almost impossible to escape that feeling of not doing enough, that vague sense you’re letting someone down.

Sometimes we seek out these shoulds as a way to convince ourselves we’re making progress, even if they don’t move the needle where it really matters.

And sometimes, the shoulds are a sneaky way to avoid the work that’s right in front of us. For example, I might be working on a wall and catch myself thinking, I really should make a new Reel—right now. It’s easy to convince myself that creating content or tackling some other task, any other task, is more important than focusing fully on the work I’m already doing.

None of these shoulds are bad in and of themselves. They’re often helpful. And many do need to get done at some point. But they aren’t the main thing. Too often, we sacrifice the main thing for the secondary things.

Right now, my main thing is the stone project I’m working on. It deserves my full attention. Instead of fretting about not doing the things I think I should to secure the next project, I need to focus on this one.

Good luck with this. I should go start that drawing class now.