{"id":624,"date":"2024-07-26T13:48:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T19:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.southernfriedyanqui.com\/?p=624"},"modified":"2024-08-12T17:57:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T17:57:38","slug":"start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/start\/","title":{"rendered":"START"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You\u2019re familiar with this, I know: You need to start a project. You want<\/em> to start a project. No, maybe that\u2019s not quite right. What you want<\/em> is to have finished the project. You don\u2019t particularly want to start it. Once you start it, you\u2019ll be in that place where you must<\/em> either finish or abandon it. But what if I don\u2019t know everything I need to know in order to finish it well? (You probably don\u2019t know everything<\/em> you need to know.) But what if I don\u2019t have time to do it well? (You probably don\u2019t already have time <\/em>enough.) But what if nobody supports me on it, what if they belittle or ridicule me? (A very real possibility). Have I convinced you yet that you shouldn\u2019t start? That wasn\u2019t my intention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been hearing a lot in my podcasts lately about procrastination, and what I\u2019m hearing is that procrastination is almost never a manifestation of laziness. Sometimes, but rarely. We most often procrastinate for the reasons I showed above: fear, overwhelm, concern about isolation. Hey, these are genuine, legitimate concerns. I\u2019ve found myself in the messy middle of projects and realized that I had to learn what the next step was, and only then learn how to actually do<\/em> the next step. Time availability has always been a challenge for me, usually because I\u2019m interested in everything and just can\u2019t explore everything. And very few people have ever really known what all I\u2019ve been up to. It would have been a lot easier if I had felt I could have enlisted some support, but I\u2019m always afraid they\u2019ll either laugh at me or tell me I shouldn\u2019t try it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no point in telling you that you just need to ignore these feelings. It\u2019s not going to happen. Instead, I\u2019m going to share some of the things that have helped me publish a book, overcome serious injuries from a car accident, graduate college while working full-time, and increase my income from my primary occupation (that is, not side hustles) by almost 50% over two years. There\u2019s no guarantee you\u2019ll be able to do all these things, especially if you still have kids at home, but if there\u2019s anything here that helps you get a little traction, you can build on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost \u2013 START.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

START SMALL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I am a planner. I can<\/em> be spontaneous, but if something is going to involve a significant investment of any resources, I want a plan. When we travel, I typically plan the travel to and from the destination, and I have a list of suggested activities, but I don\u2019t plan those, unless we need to make reservations. However, for my projects, I plan. I find it helpful to break a large project into phases, and then the phases into tasks, and the tasks into individual steps or actions. I usually only take one phase at a time into tasks. Depending on the number of tasks, and the intricacy of them, I may only work one task at a time into steps. At that point, all I ever need to work on is the next action<\/em>. Each action is a victory, a win. Also, each action gives you an idea of how prepared you are with regard to your knowledge or skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOME IDEAS TO HELP YOU START<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Writing: Begin with an outline. I get a lot of writing done because I\u2019m no longer trying to fill in a blank page. You can use AI to help you organize your thoughts and produce an outline, or you can use a whiteboard or easel pad to create a sort of web of the things you want to write about. When you have the broad ideas in front of you, then you can figure out if you need to do some research. You know what? You can wait till you get to the point where you need that research before you start to do it. Write the intro, write the conclusion, write the parts you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: Shoot stuff. Don\u2019t start learning yet. Have fun with your camera. Play with it, change settings, then set them all back to normal. After you\u2019ve been taking pictures you kind of like, then<\/em> start to learn about your camera, OR start to learn about photography basics, OR start to learn about whatever kind of photography you want to do. I like to do photo comparisons. There are several places I love to visit, and I take pictures whenever I go. Each time I go, I know something different I want to try. So, my photos of that same place are never quite the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health: You\u2019re not likely to implement a healthy eating plan overhaul  AND start a massive exercise regimen at the same time. Pick one, and start small. Do ONE thing \u2013 change one food you know is not providing what your body wants to one that does. OR find fifteen minutes somewhere in your day when you can take a walk, and put in on your calendar, make a reminder in your phone that will make a noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THEN WHAT?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You often find that once you start, inertia in the positive kicks in. Momentum. It\u2019s easier to keep going than it is to start. It\u2019s easier to put the next sentence into place after the first one is there. It\u2019s easier to take a series of photos than it is to do the first one. It\u2019s easier to go 20 minutes after you\u2019ve been doing 15 for a while than it is to start the walking habit. With the writing, and with the photography, you can see your footprints. When you\u2019re starting a health activity, you will probably need to find a way to keep track of what you achieved. Let\u2019s not ignore that part \u2013 you need to acknowledge your wins. This is really important for those activities you haven\u2019t shared with someone else, maybe because you didn\u2019t want to hear them say you couldn\u2019t do it. It\u2019s also important if you told yourself you couldn\u2019t do it. Your winning self needs to tell your doubting self, \u201cSee? I told you I could do it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THIS WORKS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I had to reconfigure my book twice during the writing process, but it was still easier than starting fresh. Plus, once I actually got started, I also joined a writing group that meets a few times a week. All we do is share what we\u2019re working on, then go into a period of quiet writing, then come out an hour later and share what we accomplished. After a few of these sessions, I found that I could set myself up for about an hour a day to just go in and write. It\u2019s published now, and I\u2019m having to learn how to do marketing. This is another Start for me \u2013 I hadn\u2019t a clue how to do it, but I just started with a search on \u201chow do I market my self-published book,\u201d and started finding ways to learn what I didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do pretty well with my photography, but I\u2019m always looking to learn more. There are tons of websites where you can take one aspect and learn about it, and you can go at your own pace. I was doing great with my point-and-shoot camera, and when I got my DSLR, my photos were horrible<\/em> for a while! This was a whole different animal, and I had to learn what makes a great picture. I couldn\u2019t just depend on luck anymore. But I found a website, then a book and I got started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health \u2013 well, here I need to eat my own dog food. I need to just START. I\u2019ve done exercise programs before, but had to stop for different reasons (car accident, overflow at the gym, yellowflies came early, etc.). Fifteen minutes? Surely, I can find that somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just need to START.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YOUR TURN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What do you want to START, or what have you STARTED that helped you keep going? This is a safe place! Drop a comment below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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