Getting started on anything is most peoples big problem.

You have great intentions to start a new business. You buy a course or e book as it often promises untold wealth in 5 minutes. You open it and then a sudden wave of fatigue overcomes you and you are forced to retire to the sofa for a rest, maybe watch some tv. Or maybe the phone rings and a friend invites you out to go shopping, play some golf. Or the kids need to be taken to ballet or football or whatever.

We’ve all done it. Made a million and one excuses as to why we can’t start our exciting new project now but we will definitely, almost certainly start tomorrow or maybe the next day because you’re having friends over or something else.

I do it all the time, even now. I can come up with a million and one excuses not to do something. I have, however, come up with a few ways of overcoming my inertia and getting things done. Trust me, I still struggle with focus. The difference is now I don’t beat myself up over it.

when I do manage to do things I feel really good about myself and this motivates me to do more. What’s the key? I believe it is giving yourself small tasks rather than one big task that will always prove too daunting and easy to put off.

If you’ve just bought a new course or  a book that could help you succeed, start off small. commit to reading 5 pages before you go to sleep or first thing you get up in the morning. Set your alarm just 15 minutes earlier and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

More importantly because you’ll feel good about yourself i think you’ll find that you want to do more. So break any job down into smaller tasks and you’ll find it doesn’t look so daunting after all. So here is a simple 3 step plan:

1.Work out how much time per day you can spare and at what time of the day and how may days per week. Be realistic. Give yourself some days off.

2.Stick to the days and the time. On Day 1 write out two plans. First plan is the big picture plan with the project goal. Then prepare a second plan. This is the time to break down your task into more manageable pieces. For example days, 1,2,3 and 4 could be research or week 1 could be research. week 2 could be e mailing people who can help you, sketching out a design for your website, requesting financial information on a website you are thinking of buying etc. Hopefully you get the idea that you don’t need to do everything in one day.

3.Review your progress at regular intervals. if you fall off the wagon so to speak, don’t worry. Get back on! Perhaps you committed to doing too much. If you committed to doing an hour a day maybe scale that back to half an hour a day. Remember this is a work in progress. You will constantly have to adapt and change but the important thing is to keep the tasks small and work on your project regularly. do this and you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.

Until next time

Tim Wilde

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 5:54 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.