Sep 28, 2026 · Theme of the week: Action

Mental Monday - Edition 39

Mental Monday

“Don't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Stick to the situation at hand.” - Marcus Aurelius

Theme of the week: Action

I have been catching myself doing something lately: spending more time thinking about a task than actually working on it.

As I continue to build Path to Becoming, this entrepreneurial world still feels unfamiliar to me. There are hundreds of things we could be doing, and sometimes even a simple task begins to feel heavy. I think about all the work involved, the steps I need to take, and how I can make everything perfect before I have even started.

Before long, I have created an overwhelming version of reality in my head without even touching the task.

I experienced this just this past week.

I needed to connect multiple calendars from different apps and email accounts to our new website and my Google Calendar. In my head, it felt like a massive technical problem. I imagined all the things that might go wrong and how long it would take to figure everything out. Did I even know my passwords? Each time I thought about it without doing anything, it seemed to get bigger.

Eventually, I sat down and started.

I used the resources available to me and worked through it one step at a time. When I didn’t know something, I looked it up. We live in a time when so much information is at our fingertips, but I had been worrying about not knowing the answers before even trying to find them.

And then it was done. The calendars were connected. The problem I had been carrying around in my head was solved, and the angst I had built around it settled too.

When I reflected on the day, what stood out was how much mental space that unfinished task had occupied. So much of the stress had come from anticipating the work. Once I began, I had something concrete to respond to, and the next step became clearer.

That is what Marcus Aurelius’s words mean to me this week. I had been letting my imagination turn one task into every possible complication. “Stick to the situation at hand” reminds me to come back to what actually needs my attention right now.

I am still learning how to do this. The uncertainty of building a business can make me want to think through every possibility before moving. But half the battle is starting, and I am learning to trust that I can figure things out as I go.

This week, think of something you have been putting off. What is one step you can take today?

You do not need to understand the entire path before beginning. Give yourself a place to start, and let what you learn from taking action guide your next step.

Stay strong, even when you are not. It’s okay, you are not alone.

Love always,

Michael Argyrides

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