A few months ago, we published an article about not quitting something that you start. This article detailed one man’s amazing quest to finish an Iron Man race that he started even though the odds were thoroughly stacked against him. As we learn about how others persevere through challenges, we can gain insight into ourselves and how we may develop similar perseverance. From the feedback we received on this article, we gleaned that the idea of “not quitting” resonated with many of you.
Then, a few weeks ago, we published an article about the 6 items you would need if you wanted to start a journey on a new habit or discipline. We have many clients who have successfully packed these 6 items for their journey and are well on their way. But there still seems to be a gap between starting something and not quitting. We’re calling it the “I started, then I stopped, and now what?” gap (super-technical term, I know).
Rewire has fielded many questions lately about how to start over (with a career, a work team goal, a health discipline, a relationship, a habit, etc.) and how to simply start something in the first place.
We especially get called-in when the thing that someone's starting seems to be late in the game. For instance, maybe it’s the end of January and you have not completed your business plan for the year yet. Or you had a great idea in your head about what your personal New Year’s resolution should be, but again, it’s almost February and that idea has not turned into action.
One of our core values at Rewire is simplicity.
So, in everything we do, we ask each other if we have the task or the idea or process down to its simplest form. I mention this here because of its relevance in bridging the gap above. If we take away all the angst we have around not starting “on time” or starting something in the past and not completing that something, then we can get to the matter at hand: to simply start now.
What is the simplest thing that you can simply start now? If you can answer and then take action on this question, we've found that it yields huge benefits.
There are times when we need to go deep with ourselves and look at why we don’t do certain things even though we know we should do them. Many of the answers reside in our Lizard Brains, but today I simply give you permission to start now anyway. Pick one item, just one, and start it today. Even if it’s in the middle of the week and you won’t be able to start as perfectly as you would like, go ahead and start now anyway. Give yourself permission; get whatever it is down to its simplest form, and start now. Today.
“That’s it?” you ask.
Yep.
For today, keep it simple. Don’t think too much about it and just start.
At Rewire we are all about authentic and sustainable change and we are clear that if you don’t start, you won’t change. So start now and let us know what you started and how it’s going.
