Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

The Key to Getting Finished
Here's a favorite quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

"What is not started today is never finished tomorrow."

This quote falls into the category of Captain Obvious. Yet as obvious as it is, it reminds us of something many of us too often overlook. If you want to finish something, you first have to start it.

Too often we prefer to daydream about how nice things will be once we're able to see some big project in our rear view mirror. We hesitate, though, to start it.

When we daydream about it, we envision it as having turned out absolutely perfect. The results that come from it are perfect. Our whole world is perfect because of it.

When we actually start, that dream of perfection gives way to reality. Things don't go exactly as planned. The results become not so much a final destination as another step along the journey toward the life we want. It can be more attractive to hang onto the dream of perfect results than it is to actually achieve the positive results that doing the project will bring.

So how can you break out of this rut and get a much-needed (and much-procrastinated) project done? Treat yourself like a little kid.

Have you ever had to guide a small child through picking up a floor full of toys? What's the best way to get results?

Saying, "Pick them all up, right now," will likely get you either refusal or tears. That child, looking at the mess, will feel overwhelmed. That child will likely feel much the same way that you feel as you look at a massive project.

What if you say to that child, "Let's pick up all the dolls/action figures," though? By isolating one piece of the bigger project, it seems more doable. The child will do it willingly.

Once those are put away, you can say, "Now let's pick up the blocks," or "Now let's pick up the..." one group at a time until the whole job is done and you can say, "Great job! I'm proud of you for making the room look so nice!"

You can do the same thing with yourself. Break down the larger task into individual parts. Commit yourself to doing just one part. Then, when you finish that, pick out one other part. Again, tell yourself that you need to do only that one part.

It's easier to commit to one small task at a time than to commit to the whole thing. It's easier, too, to move from one completed task to the next one when you have momentum working with you instead of against you.

What Goethe says may be obvious, but true. You can't finish something you haven't started.

Get started. If you need to play mind games with yourself to get started, play whatever ones you need to play. Whatever it takes, though, get started.
Jeff

Labels: inspirational quotes