all starting points are equally valid

Do you suffer from procrastination?

I know I do big time.  I can usually come up with a ton of reasons, good reasons, mind you, for not  sitting down to write that novel I’ve been meaning to start, or to empty my inbox which is stacked a mile high with stuff that needs attending to, or to write that prospecting letter that I keep pushing to the side.  And since the reasons sound valid, I take them as facts and put off doing what I had good intentions on doing.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King told Alice, “And go on until you come to the end: then stop.”  This is the approach I used to take when beginning a new project or starting a new task, especially my writing.  I felt that I needed to write the perfect first sentence and all else would flow from there.  The trouble with that approach is I could never write the perfect first sentence, so the writing project stalled, and I would come up with a host of good reasons to avoid facing the blank page again, putting off my writing projects indefinitely.

Now, instead of beginning at the beginning, I start anywhere.  All starting points are equally valid.  Armed with that little nugget, I have been able to release my creativity and begin because I am not bound by linear thinking.  I can work asynchronously and then bring it all together in edit and revision mode.

So the next time you find yourself procrastinating because a task seems to big or hard to start, just make a quick list of what needs to be done, pick the first one that comes to your mind and start there.