I have not posted in awhile and I am not going to tell you why (read: make excuses).
The fact is I’ve come up against a wall. It has many names: procrastination, laziness, perfection. I have tens of ideas I want to share here but have not posted a single one lately. My time manages to fill itself. No matter how many hours of activity I cut out, I still find my days full with no spare time for writing.
I’ve struggled to take action, and weeks have suddenly gone by.
No more!
I will write and publish today. It isn’t one of the many topics I’ve made a note to write about, or have begun and let simmer in the drafts folder. It’s about getting the work started and getting it finished. We can want to do something, have super strategies for getting it done, be all fired up and motivated. But there is no end result to present because we don’t start and/or we don’t finish.
So. How to get your task done in 3 easy steps.
I know, I’m so cheeky saying, “Just start.” But it’s as simple as that. Put your phone down, turn off youtube, stop mucking with housework, whatever. Get down to something productive.
- Start. Carve 5-15 minutes out of your schedule and dedicate them to this task. You’ve heard this before: You need to make time, otherwise your day will fill up with activity all on its own. Work for 15 minutes on your task. Doesn’t have to be perfect, doesn’t have to be presentable, just needs needs to be a start.
- Continue. Set aside another 15 minutes the same day or the next day and work on your task. Don’t wait longer than a week! It’s too easy to devalue what we really want to do if a lot of time goes by. Break down your big project and work on pieces of it as mini-projects.
- Finish. Unless you’re performing surgery, good enough is okay. Go ahead and hit publish, hang your painting on the wall, sing your song at the recital, run your clunky code, dance your awkward but happy dance. Celebrate the accomplishment! Practice makes better, so now go back to step 1 for the next project.