Yesterday, I wrote about some steps to combat the siren song of procrastination. Today, I’ll discuss one of those tactics in more detail—just take the first step.
Taking the tiniest of first steps can mean the difference between success and failure. While I don’t necessarily see failure as a bad thing (we have so much to learn from our failures), it isn’t always the goal.
In Effortless, McKeown says, “That first step may seem too trivial to name. But more often than not, a step as tiny as buying a tape measure provides that momentum we need to take the next step, then the next step after that.” Not sure what your first step is? Look at your first “task” and break it down to its smallest piece. The tape measure McKeown refers to in that quote is about a woman who needs to organize her office because it is cluttered with books. She thought the first step was getting a bookshelf, but when pressed to break it down further, she realized that she needed to measure the area where the bookshelf would go but couldn’t because she didn’t have a tape measure.
One of the TV shows I enjoy watching because of the psychology behind it is Hoarders. When they first show the houses they will tackle, it seems like an insurmountable task. Yet, they just start with throwing away one thing. This leads to another and another, and by the end, literal tons have been removed, and the house cleared out.
The same can happen with the project that you are procrastinating on. What is that first small step you can take? Now go do it…yes, I mean right now.
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!