just. get. started.

how to get over the hump of procrastinating and just getting started on something. you got this babe.

photo courtesy of pinterest

The idea of just getting started is such a simple one. Why do we have so much resistance? Why do we struggle? Why is it so hard to start?

For my fellow (recovering) perfectionists out there, perhaps much of the hesitation is due to the way in which we approach the plan. Maybe the internal dialogue looks something like this:

“oooh, I’ve got a cool creative idea! This is so great, let’s map it out.”

*starts to map it out*

*continues to map out every. little. detail.*

*gets overwhelmed by the detail*

“ugh. It will take 400 years to achieve this ideal state. I don’t have that kind of time right now. I better come back to this another time”

*shrugs shoulders in overwhelm and walks away, leaving the cool creative idea to sit in a notebook…possibly forever…*😥

You blow the flame of your cool creative idea before it even has a chance to shine, even just a little.

Sound familiar?

What is instead of shrugging your shoulders at the end, we instead say, “Hmm, okay… that intense timeline is an IDEAL state…and if an IDEAL state is 100 % done, what could 80% done look like?”

Ah, the good ole 80/20 rule. But not the Pareto Principle version of the 80/20 rule (which says 80% of your results stem from 20% of your inputs). I’m talking about the remix – the one that says if it’s 80% done, it’s good enough to launch while you iterate on the remaining 20%.

Now, this doesn’t apply to all things (we don’t need surgeons, for example, to be using the 80/20 rule in a surgery dear god), but if you can entertain this idea and mindset, I wonder if it’ll help you just to GET. STARTED.

Newton’s First Law of Motion: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion.

Once you just START, it’s easier to keep going.

We all have our own reasons for not starting something because of our own lived experiences and perceptions, so I encourage you to ask yourself:

-          Is there something I want to start but haven’t? why?

-          What would help me just get started? (think about tangible things like a time block timer as well as intangible things like “not letting my fear of failure cripple me”)

-          What would it look and feel like to have made progress?

-          What does 100% done look like? What does 80% done look like?

Winston Churchill once said that “perfection is the enemy of progress.” Cheers to just STARTING so we can make some progress babes. 💋😘