January 12, 2022 Paula Gurnett, C.C.C.

Did you ever have dreams of a project that you really wanted to do, but you just never got around to it?

For example, what if you always wanted to write a book? But then life always got in the way and you kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off again. Every time you thought about it, you found a reason not to get started on it.

How might your life be different now if you had just taken action - taken that first step - gotten started on your masterpiece?

Do you see something familiar in projects you always wanted to do? Even with the best plans, nothing happens until you actually get started!

Consider these reasons why being able to get started is a critical life skill:

1. Nothing actually happens until you get started. All the planning, scheming, and visualizing in the world won’t move the needle. At some point, you have to start doing something that will actually produce results. You don’t receive any results until you finally take action and begin.
   

2. Momentum. Getting started can be challenging, but the progress builds with time. Once you begin, things start happening. As you continue, the magnitude of your results grows exponentially. But you have to get over the hump of getting started.
   

3. You learn while doing. Studying is good but learning on the job is better. You’ll never learn more about writing, internet marketing, sales, or playing the piano than you’ll learn by actually doing it.
   

4. Too much planning leads to inaction. It’s easy to fall into the trap of planning. The deeper you plan, the more detailed and tedious it becomes. You quickly reach a point where you can’t find a definitive answer because things become too vague as you look further and further out.

● Begin before you become trapped by your planning habit.

5. It makes the future easier. Getting started with something new becomes a

habit. If you can get started today, the next project will be that much easier to

start.

6. Your self-esteem will get a huge boost. We silently loathe ourselves when we

procrastinate for too long. We know that we’re simply too scared to begin and to

risk failure. You’ll be much more pleased with yourself after you get

started.

7. You reach your goals faster. This seems obvious, but few people consider it. If

you had started chasing your goal a year earlier, you’d be successful a year earlier,

too.

8. You change how you see yourself. When you take action, you begin to see

yourself as someone that takes action. This perception of yourself will eventually

lead to creating a habit of getting started quickly.

Now that you see all these reasons why getting started is so important, you’ll likely want to get started on something! But how? Starting is often the hardest part!

To get yourself over that hump, break your project down into small, achievable steps. If those steps look too hard, break them down even further until you get to one small action you can take to get started.

Then do it! Take that one small action! You’ll be glad you did!