Getting started something new = how to stop procrastinating
The secret to success is getting startedโฆ right?
But turns out, itโs much easier to talk about it than to start something new. Particularly if youโre busy with school, your current job, freelance work, being a parent, etc…
Often finding the time and enthusiasm to get started on something new can be tough.
Maybe you seem to appear to have mountains of time to start new things, but every week you find yourselves moved over to the new weekโs list, completely untouched.
Sometimes, knowing you have a great idea you want to start, but not knowing how to, and you freeze.
But not this summer!
If you donโt try, youโll never reap the possible rewards! So, whether your idea is a great new blog, that class, a business with your friend, or looking for a job, this is the time to stop procrastinating and get started.
Here are 7 steps that Iโve found useful in the past, and need to put into practice again!
1. Work out what your idea isย
Itโs so easy to want to start something new, without being clear about what it is.
Consider what your idea is, why you want to do it and what you are hoping to achieve.
If youโve got a bunch of ideas, choose the one that you feel towards the most, this will be the most simple for you to put into action.
2. Small steps
If every week you put on your list that significant thing that you want to do, youโll probably ignore it for years because you donโt know where to begin.
The first step to getting started is breaking your idea down into the smallest steps possible. List them out. Chances are once you do that youโll see that none of them are impossible, which will make you very motivated!
3. Timing
Itโs easy to put something off because of timing. Timing related reasons can be endless when it comes to starting something new, and trust me you can continue to make them forever.
But consider, chances are the timing is never going to be right, starting something new is hard, and thatโs never going to change.
Rather than not starting because of the timing, why not take some small steps towards getting started now!
4. 3 small things at day
Talking about small steps, once youโve got them listed out, do three of them!
Itโs easy to think of yourself as done and dusted once you have the list of steps, but the only way to get started is to get started! Pick three things off the list and do them today.
Each one will probably take you no more than 10 minutes, but once youโve done them youโll know that you started today, congrats!
5. Talk about it
Usually, Iโm someone who avoids talking about something until itโs finished. I think thatโs just superstition but the problem with keeping everything bottled up inside is that you miss out on all the positives involved with verbalizing an idea.
For many of us, itโs because weโre not 100% confident and are afraid of other peopleโs expectations or criticisms, which is natural!
6. Perfection doesn’t exist
Overthinking an idea or feeling like it needs to be perfect can be a significant roadblock.
Ideas and concepts evolve, and unless you get started, you wonโt be able to go through that process. They donโt need to be perfect at the beginning to be great in the end, so just make a start.
7. Avoidย distractions
Something can happen that you might have the motivation to start something, and take the first few steps, but then falter on the next ones, and let the idea drift. Or make sure you donโt get distracted by a new idea. Stick with the one youโve started, commit to the time it will take and, as they say, finish what you started!
I know itโs going to be a lot of work, and tonnes of juggling, but hopefully it will be worth it!
xoxo,
Arianna