Just Start
How do we Start?
Wondering how to start? Your inner voice is telling you to take action, but you constantly make excuses about why the time is not right. "I will do it tomorrow" or "I am too tired to start today" are a couple of popular ones. So, how do you tackle a new challenge? Some people appear to have it all together and have no trouble starting, but if you’re struggling (like I do sometimes), here’s how.
What Gets in the Way & How to Change It
What makes starting so difficult? Maybe we’re overwhelmed. We have stress, anxiety, and fear about a task and it brings us down. It makes us feel bad about ourselves or inadequate in some way. Starting can seem like a painful process and of course, most people would procrastinate doing something painful! We want to protect ourselves from that kind of stress. There is only so much pain most of us are willing to tolerate before we start to question why we’re making ourselves suffer.
The spark we need is in finding a fresh way to look at the task. Can we find a better way of framing the uncertainty of this situation instead of through the lens of stress, fear, and overwhelm? How about looking at it as an expression of our creativity, an adventure, or an opportunity to serve others?
Do the internal work to discover that for yourself. What is the opportunity? What would make it fulfilling? Get aligned with that before you begin and things will get easier.
How to Start
Once you’ve had a chance to look at how you’re viewing the situation and find a new way to frame it, you’re on the path to starting!
Here’s what I recommend:
Choose something that’s important/meaningful, but that you’ve been putting off. Usually, it’s easy to find one. Look at your list and think about what you’ve been avoiding. Pick one.
Clear everything away. Turn off your phone, disconnect the internet. Simplify things by removing all distractions.
Take the first step and breathe deeply. See it as a new experience, a way to be of service and to be fully present. Just start!
How to Practice Start(ing)
A great way to practice is by challenging yourself to do this daily for a month. Doing it regularly helps you get better at it quickly as this daily practice becomes a habit.
Whether it’s a new venture, product, or other, start as simply as possible. Be honestly curious about the new undertaking. Think about what your audience’s challenges are if you’re blogging for the first time (like me) and commence from there. Starting can be scary.
We want things to be “perfect” or to be “ready” for what’s next. We think the perfect job, relationship, or situation is required before embarking on that new endeavor. Life is a constant balancing act and you are likely to never be as “ready” as you would like. No need to overthink. Starting is the key to any habit. If you’ve chosen a task and it seems too hard to get started, simplify it. Just do one minute.
If that’s too difficult, just do 30 seconds. That’s so easy you (hopefully) can’t say no. Whatever the challenge, simplify it. Choose just one thing to focus on for your new product or business and make it do even less of that one thing. You can absolutely iterate, scale and add features over time, but as you begin, do as little as possible. Even if you have to go slowly, just start.