I was standing in the kitchen holding the pickle jar in one hand while twisting the lid off with the other. Time to grab a pickle. I notice there are only two napkins left in the napkin holder.

I hesitate.

I look at the paper towel roll—a worthy but slightly more expensive alternative.

In this weird metacognitive moment, I can’t ignore the oddity of my behavior: standing in the kitchen holding a cold pickle jar while looking back and forth between two pickle-holder options.

Why do I have a problem with getting a napkin??

And then a voice in my head says, “Find out the reason you don’t want to do something that you probably should do. Acknowledge the hesitation and then work with yourself to eliminate or move around the barrier. You can still achieve the thing that you really should do, while cooperating with your hesitations. They are there for a reason, but they don’t have to rule you. Work with yourself.”

Standing alone in the kitchen I nodded to the voice and echoed it with a more Mandy-like inner voice: “Work with yourself. Ok. I can work with myself.”

Seriously. That’s what went through my head. I was paying attention. I heard all of it.

I decide to make it a personal mission to work on eliminating the obstacles hat keep me from doing the things that I really should be doing.

Starting with this napkin quirk.

The first step is to reach for a napkin. The second step accompanies the first: I ask myself what stopped me earlier?

It’s the system. We’re down to two napkins which means I need to replenish the napkin holder and I don’t like pulling napkins out of the plastic napkin pack.

Why not?

They sit at the bottom of the pantry, very close to the floor. Very inconvenient. And I’m an ergonomist at heart and my inner-ergonomist has issues with the bending and digging and trying-not-to-knock-anything-over that is all a part of the napkin-replenishment system.

Ah. I can fix that.

My hands move quickly through the pantr, sliding a few things around to place the napkin pack neatly on one side of a face-level shelf. Pleased. Then I effortlessly, smoothly, gracefully slide a handful of fresh new napkins from the pack. It was beautiful, y’all. I wish you could’ve been there to see the smile on my face.

New napkins go in the dispenser.

Pickles go on my napkin.

Jar goes back in the fridge.

And I sit down at my laptop to encourage you to notice the things in your life that you really should be doing that you don’t want to do. Ask yourself why, then make it a personal challenge to eliminate or work around some of those obstacles. In the end, you may really enjoy the results.

So, what is it? Any ideas of things you should, but don’t wanna, do?