Persistent Starting

Have you ever felt overwhelmed while trying to achieve a goal? I have, and I would guess you have too.

That’s why it’s important that you have a good strategy! And one good strategy I have found is “persistent starting.”

As Neil Fiore in his book The Now Habit states:

“…essentially, all large tasks are completed in a series of starts… Keep on starting, and finishing will take care of itself.”

In essence, persistent starting means that you shouldn’t fill your mind with how big a project is. This only makes you feel overwhelmed. Instead, you need to just focus on starting on it every day. By doing that, you will eventually be able to finish the project.

WHY Persistent Starting Is Powerful

There are three reasons:

•  It helps you reduce stress. Focusing on the simple task you need to do today makes the burden much lighter.
• It helps you overcome procrastination. (a big one for me!) One reason I procrastinate is I feel overwhelmed, then I hesitate to take action. Does this ever happen to you?
•  It allows you to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. By just continually starting, by taking that first small step and then the next first small step, you will eventually reach your destination.

 

A simple example in my life is when I wanted to create this blog. It seemed like a huge task for my less-than technical skills! But I gave myself small tasks each week:

• Researching what to do,
• where to do it,
• how to do it,
• when to do it.

Doing this over a period of time enabled me to create this blog way back in June of 2012. (even though I am STILL less-than technically proficient!)

HOW do you do this?

There are four steps to applying persistent starting:

1.  Know your destination. You don’t want to wander aimlessly. So set a clear goal and know what achieving it will look like.
2.  Plan the route. This means setting some milestones-they help you stay on track and give you small victories along the way.
3.  Keep doing the next simple task. Know what you can do today that will move you towards your destination. Then after you find it, allocate the time and just do it!
4.  Adjust your course as necessary. Be careful to not go off course (shiny objects anyone?) Regularly check where you are by comparing your position to the next milestone and adjust as necessary.

Persistent Starting is a simple strategy, but it can help you achieve your goals with minimum stress and frustration. It works for me, and I hope it will work for you too.

What challenges have you faced?

And are you still “starting?”