I overthink everything and it’s rarely helped me. Especially when it comes to work.

For example…

When I was in my mid-20s I had the opportunity to teach 6^th grade for a year. The position was offered to me because I had been subbing at a particular school when one of their sixth grade teachers quit after her first week, and another sixth grade teacher suddenly died.

I’m afraid this was the only way I could ever have qualified; I was the last (only) man standing.

I genuinely enjoyed the students, many of whom had daddies in prison, almost all of them on government assistance, and every single one of them hilariously preteen.

I loved making them laugh, occasionally teaching them something, connecting at a heart level, and telling them goofy ghost stories at science camp.

For MLK day, I got them to march silently out of the classroom and sit outside the administration’s office, nonviolently protesting something I made up for the event. The principal (who was genuinely our “pal” and a great guy) responded by calling out threats over the school’s loudspeakers. They were all very excited about the possibility of being arrested.

At the same time, I did not enjoy going to work early every day, creating lesson plans that needed weekly approval from the princi-pal, or maintaining an organized and disciplined classroom. “Organized” and “disciplined” are not my natural way of being in the world.

I also did not like the way my classroom smelled when all 32 of them piled back into my tiny portable classroom after PE on a hot spring day.

And besides all that, there are far easier ways to make that little money. (Can I get an “amen,” teachers?)

So when my alarm went off every weekday, I spent the first 5 minutes lying in bed desperately searching for an excuse not to go to work. The possibility of slashing my own tires, breaking my own leg, or pretending someone in my immediate family had been kidnapped all seemed perfectly reasonable.

But guilt, fear, guilt, anxiety, and guilt would get to me. Somehow I’d get dressed and drive to work, cursing both under and over my breath.

When I arrived at school, I’d sit in my Suzuki Samurai (Yes! Awesome!) for another 5 minutes. Here’s where I’d pull out all the stops and start bargaining with God.

Lord, if you could just give me a mild heart attack or a slightly burst appendix, something that wouldn’t kill me but would get me into a hospital room with a nice bed and various narcotics, then I’ll never ask for anything else ever again. Well, that and a wife. It would be cool to find a wife, too. Like maybe a hot doctor or nurse I’d meet in the ER during my mild heart attack?

God would then smile at me, wink, and remind me that he loved me even when I pouted like a 3-year-old. But I still had to go to work.

And then I would NOT think about NOT working until the school day was over.

Because I was just in it, I was simply doing the work. I was just moving from one lesson plan to the next, one period to the next, trying to be as present as possible, trying to give myself some grace because the truth is I wasn’t designed to be a schoolteacher, and the other truth is, it’s REALLY, REALLY HARD TO BE A SCHOOLTEACHER.

(BTW, I have the deepest respect for the men and women who do it well, day after day, year after year. But that’s not the point, even if it should be. Here’s the point.)

When you don’t want to go to work because you hate your job, hate your boss, feel overqualified, under-qualified, or hopelessly square-pegged into a round hole, do this:

Stop thinking so much. Follow the sage advice from the groundbreaking and poignant 1980s film, Top Gun: “If you think, you’re dead.”

You get to decide where your thoughts go (you really do), and the more time you focus on what you don’t want in life, the less you’ll end up with what you do want.

Do this instead:

• Allow the thought come to your attention (it’s there, after all – you’d better acknowledge it or it will just get louder and louder).
• But when it shows up, don’t argue with it. Don’t try to reason with it.
• Simply take notice of it and say something like, “Hey, negative thought about work! I see you!” Now put it back on a mental shelf somewhere. That’s all the attention it deserves.

I’m not saying that if you feel like your job is a bad fit, you should mindlessly keep doing it anyway, for the rest of your life. There’s plenty of room here for the hard work of aligning your outer world with your inner wiring. I’m just saying the only way to find your way forward is to be present to what’s in front of you RIGHT NOW.

One step at a time where you’re at NOW will get you where you want to go faster than daydreaming about greener grass. (Don’t forget that negative thoughts are just as happy to show up at your dream job.)

For me, one day of showing up turned into another, and just like that, another week was gone.

Every week I learned more about myself, what I liked and didn’t like, what I was good at and what I should steer clear of. Even better, my showing up (even reluctantly) led to some wonderful memories with both students and teachers, and the growing confidence I could do hard things even when I really, really, really didn’t want to.

I hate to say it because it sounds cliche, but it couldn’t be more true: There are deep and lasting rewards found in just showing up. In not thinking too hard and just doing the work as best you can on that particular day with whatever resources you have at hand.

I promise that’s enough to take you where your heart most wants to go.

Just six months after stumbling into my role as a school teacher, a clear next step presented itself that would lead me to a different part of the state and an honest-to-goodness dream job. One I never could have found apart from showing up every day and learning not to overthink things.

Some questions to think/pray/journal about:

1. What’s your negative thought of choice? Mine is, “What’s the point?” It’s important you recognize yours so it doesn’t get the best of you.
2. If you had your dream job RIGHT NOW, you’d still be the person you are RIGHT NOW. What do you need to change about YOU that will get you/keep you moving toward your goals/dreams.