We've all been there. There's a project you want to complete but it feels so overwhelming that you don't even know where to start. In many cases this leads to putting it off by saying, "I'll start on it tomorrow." You do this for weeks, months, or even years. This means that you never even start. There is a 100% chance you will fail if you don't take the first step. What do you do? How do you break this mental block so that you can accomplish your goals?
Kick the Notion of Willpower and Resistance to the Curb
The battle between willpower and resistance is real. Despite popular notion, willpower is real and it is limited. It's fleeting and unreliable. A high level of willpower isn't necessarily a positive attribute because it doesn't allow much room for self-compassion and forgiveness, which everyone needs. After all, we are all human. The bottom line is that willpower and resistance both work against your ability to accomplish your goals. How do you get around these obstacles? It's time to kick the notion of willpower and resistance to the curb.
Just Wash One Fork...Just One
The idea of wash one fork is that small steps lead to big results. Take it step-by-step and just start working towards your goal. Even though I've played around with the concept for years, the name came from a member who hates to wash dishes. However, he knew it was a necessity, so he tricked himself into washing the dishes by saying that he would just wash one fork. When he washed one fork, he would get in a rhythm, and the next thing he knew all of the dishes were washed.
I've applied the same concept to a personal business project this past year. I was overwhelmed and couldn't even figure out where to start so I kept putting it off. Finally, I decided that I would put 20 minutes into my project each day. It didn't matter what I did on the project. Some days I just jotted notes in my journal about the project. The only expectation I placed on myself is that I would put 20 minutes into the project and that's it. Once my 20 minutes were up, if I didn't want to do anymore I could walk away, guilt-free. Some days it was just 20 minutes and other days I would get into a rhythm and 20 minutes turned into 40 minutes or more. In just under 6 months, my project was finished...all because I washed one fork each day.
Newton's first law of gravity can be applied to the wash one fork concept. The law says that an object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an outside force and that likewise an object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an outside force.
Getting Out of the Gate
So much of what we do in life is automated. For instance, when you drive, turning on your blinkers is automatic. Our brains aren't wired to rethink processes all the time. This is why entrepreneurs often have difficulty coming up with new processes. The problem is that tasks can seem so daunting that many people have a hard time getting out of the starting gate.
The trick to getting things done is to begin doing them now, no matter if you want your project accomplished in a month or a year. There's no need to get bogged down in all of the details, but rather stay in the moment. You will be amazed by what you can accomplish by washing just one fork each day.