I didn’t want to write this

I still don’t. I really really still don’t. But, I’ve got this far. I’ve opened up Google Docs, I’ve written a header which I think you might want to click on. I’ve written down Draft #1. I’ve written the date (not sure why), and now I am 6 sentences in.

Doing pretty well. I might keep going.

This is the oldest piece of advice in the ‘Stop Procrastinating Tomorrow’ handbook. Just start. It’s a piece of advice I try to apply to most areas of my life every day.

Feeling tired in the morning and don’t want to get out of bed? Just put one foot on the floor. That’s all you have to do, don’t expect anything more of yourself.

Get home after work and know you need to go for a jog? Just put some upbeat music on — that’s all. This is actually a personal favourite of mine — and has some scientific backing, too. Numerous studies have shown a link between the music we listen to and the neurobiological response to that music, and how it affects our psyche.

In my experience of using the just-do-one-easy-thing-principal, the key to it working is to not project. Don’t think about what you have to do after you have one foot on the floor. Just do it. Don’t let your mind descend the staircase of ‘what next’. It makes everything daunting.

So, here we are. All I did was write the header to this thought-piece and a few hundred words later, I have something that I think a few people might like to read. Sure, it’s not my best piece of work, nor is it my longest or my most thought-provoking, but it’s out there and it’s done. I took a step to improve a skill I’m working on — writing. Every small step in the right direction takes me closer to my goal.

So tomorrow, when I am feeling motivated to write, I’ll have a little bit more practice under my belt. Maybe that article which was going to be a good one, could turn out to be a great one. That’s because I did a bit of difficult work on the day when it wasn’t easy.

If you are improving a skill by 1% every single day, after one year of relatively small improvements, you’re suddenly 37.8 times better than you were. The power of compounding, eh?

The thing is about this: 1% is really easy to achieve. That’s why its so powerful. If you have it in your mind that all you have to do — today- is improve by 1%, suddenly starting isn’t so difficult.

The beauty of it is that it’s easy, but equally powerful. If your company revenue is $6000 a month, that works out to roughly $200 a day. Lets say you want to grow your revenue and decide to take steps to improve it by just 1% every day — from $200 to $202 on day 1 — after 1 year of efforts, your monthly revenue will be $226 300.

“Little strokes fell great oaks“ — Benjamin Franklin

If you’re constantly looking for the silver bullet that’s going to turn you into an overnight success, making a start seems more daunting.

Next time you tackle a big challenge, start by taking small steps. After not long, you’ll be sprinting towards your goal.