The Magic You're Looking For Is in the Work You're Avoiding
Why the things we resist most hold what we need most
There is probably something you know you should be doing, and you keep finding good reasons not to. Reaching out to that person. Starting that new project. Setting up that new system. Learning that new tool. Everything you are procrastinating on.
I came across this quote recently:
“The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.”
I forgot where I found it, but something about it started haunting me. An awareness that had been dormant suddenly woke up, and now it won’t stop nagging me about all the things I have been avoiding.
Before finding this quote, I thought I was being strategic about pursuing my goals. Thoughtful. Preparing. That I needed the right time, the right approach, the right knowledge.
I wanted magic. That rush of success and achievement. The feeling of doing something great and worthwhile. But I was not really creating that magic. Instead, I was waiting for it to find me.
The quote exposed the truth: I was avoiding. And the magic I was desperately seeking was sitting right there in the work I was dilly-dallying my way around.
Today’s article is about avoidance and why the things we resist most hold what we need most. We will discuss:
What this quote actually means
Why we avoid what is good for us
My realization about avoidance
🔒 The work I stopped avoiding and the magic I found (paid subscribers only)
🔒 The work I am still avoiding (paid subscribers only)
🔒 Questions to ask yourself to figure out what you’re avoiding (paid subscribers only)
Let’s get started!
What this quote actually means
The “magic” isn’t something supernatural
It’s the transformation, breakthrough, or fulfillment we’re desperately seeking. That missing piece we think will complete us. It’s getting closer to self-actualization, reaching our potential.
It’s the confidence, purpose, or success we keep searching for in shortcuts - the next course we buy but don’t finish, the book we purchase but don’t implement, the advice we collect but don’t follow.
The “work” isn’t about your job
It’s the actual effort we avoid. Not buying the course, but doing every assignment. Not reading about fitness, but showing up at the gym when you don’t feel like it. Not planning the project, but building it and facing the failures. Not rehearsing the conversation, but having it.
It’s the hours of practice, the failed attempts, the uncomfortable repetition, the trying again after it didn’t work.
But if we know the work leads to the magic we want, why do we avoid it so consistently?
Why we avoid what’s good for us
Here’s the strange thing about being human: we’re exceptionally good at avoiding the exact things we know would be good for us.
Avoidance is a defense mechanism - and an effective one. It protects us from what feels genuinely terrifying: success and happiness.
We’re afraid of success
We’re afraid of success because it eliminates our excuses. No more blaming circumstances or bad luck. People will expect things from us. We might lose what we gain.
Success makes us visible, and visibility is vulnerable. It’s unknown territory, and we’d rather stay with what we know - even if what we know isn’t working.
We’re afraid of being happy
We’re afraid of being happy because it means we have something to lose. When we’re coasting, when we’re in neutral, when we’re just maintaining the status quo - we’re safe. We can’t fall any further.
But happiness? That’s vulnerable. That’s acknowledging we care. That’s admitting what matters to us.
We’re afraid of wanting
Even wanting is vulnerable. To want is to admit you don’t have. Even worse is actually doing the things. Now we might fail publicly. Everyone sees what we want and watches us not get it.
The more we want something, the more it would hurt to fail. So the things we want most become the things we avoid most. We stay in “I could if I wanted to” rather than risk finding out we couldn’t even when we tried.
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The fundamental truth
But here’s what I realized: this quote captures something fundamental about the journey from potential to performance.
We all have potential - that’s safe. But performance requires doing the work we’re avoiding. If we want to close the gap between who we could be and who we are, we must put in the work we avoid.
(The rest of this article - including the work I stopped avoiding, the work I'm still avoiding, and questions to help you find yours - is exclusive to paid subscribers) …
