I Know It’s Hard to Start, But You’ll Feel So Much Better Once You Do
Read this if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the weight of tasks you have to do, if you feel like your to-do list is never-ending and hate the fact that you let things get so bad.
Starting can feel like the hardest part.
Sometimes, it’s not as simple as just starting. That feeling of not being able to bring yourself to do the one thing you’re meant to do—and on some level want to do—can be suffocating and restricting.
But the person you need to be, the person who does the work and shows up for themselves—for you—is right there within you, right now and waiting for you to shift.
You don’t have to keep repeating the same cycle, feeling bad about yourself for not doing enough, not being enough.
You can choose a different path, a path where you focus on the effort rather than the outcome and actually do what you say you’re gonna do
A path where trusting yourself comes naturally.
Right now, this task you have to do feels like a heavy weight on your chest, keeping you stuck in one place, unable to move forward and unable to step back. You know that the weight will disappear with each step you take forward, but the thought feels overwhelming.
‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’, is a great saying but the reality of the unknown—or even being found out as incapable and incompetent—is too much of a risk to take.
The steps between feeling the fear and doing it anyway feel so far apart.
How are you meant to even start?
Maybe you can’t move forward with the weight…yet
Maybe you can’t put the weight down…yet
And that’s okay because maybe you can imagine what it feels like to be unburdened. To have arms that are empty, legs that can jump and the ability to reach out to your full potential.
What would it feel like to say to yourself ‘I did that’, ‘I am capable’, ‘I have evidence that I can do great things’?
You are so close to that feeling because you’re reading this now. You want to achieve amazing things and to do that, you need to shift your mindset.
Part of life’s journey is realising that no one starts with 100% confidence in what they do, and no one even ends with 100% confidence.
Imagine if Oprah waited until she thought she was 100% ready to become The Oprah we know today. She wouldn’t have built her empire or touched as many lives as she has.
Simply, if you do nothing, you get nothing.
The longer you see this task as a weight that’s keeping you stuck, the longer you live in that reality. You shape your reality with the way you see it.
Think of all the things you’ve done in the past already that brought you to this point—things that probably felt impossible. The times tables seem hard to a 4-year-old but low and behold, one day, their 10-year-old self has mastered it.
If you want to complete the task, break it down. See it as something malleable, workable, and most importantly, amendable.
You don’t need to aim for the finished product, because lord knows that can feel like too much to ask for. Instead, aim for something.
Some. Thing. Not the whole thing, just some of it.
You can decide what that some is. It could be a chunk, a bite, a nibble, a sliver. Whatever it is, just aim for it.
As I write this now, I want you to know that you are not alone. You are not a failure because you care so much about the work you put out that the pressure of it paralyses you.
Wanting the best for yourself and desiring to put out quality work for others is a beautiful thing and nothing to be ashamed of. Hold on to that.
But don’t let it rule you. Great work isn’t a one-and-done thing; it is an iterative process and eventually even the greatest creators abandon it and move on to the next thing.
Even they realise that perfection doesn’t exist and that it never did.
So whatever task you have yet to complete, choose to chip away at it rather than add more pressure to carry along with it. Aim for 80% ‘good enough’, and ignore the 20 because that’s procrastination wrapped up in a pretty perfectionism bow.
Believing that you need to feel motivated or inspired every time is a lie that keeps you small—sometimes you won’t feel motivated for a long time, and sometimes you’ll forget what it’s like to be inspired. But each and every time you still can move the needle forward.
Accept that it will feel uncomfortable at times because in doing so you free yourself from the expectation that hard work should be easy.
Remember, the wise and strong words of Carl Jung, to live a meaningful life, you just have to ‘do the next and most necessary thing’.
That is all.
Maybe today, the next and most necessary thing is clearing your desk, finding a usable pen, opening your laptop, journaling or creating a new folder.
Just focus on that. And after a series of doing simple, intentional actions, you might find that you have achieved more than you thought was possible.
One some thing at a time.
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Related Posts:
- Your Worth Isn’t Measured by How Hard You Push Yourself
- You Don’t Have To Do It All On Your Own – It’s Okay To Delegate
- Are You Holding On to Tasks That You Should Delegate?
- 100 Empowering Daily Affirmations To Overcome Procrastination
- Are You Stuck in the Perfectionism-Procrastination Loop? Here’s How to Get Out
- 5 Quick Procrastination Hacks You Can Try Right Now
- How To Stop Being A Lazy Perfectionist And Get Things Done
