reader. writer.

In honor of everyone working on a first draft of a novel this month, I will share my favorite time management/productivity strategy: Just start. 

We tend to focus so much on final products or final outcomes that it can feel as if that is all that matters, that it is the only moment to celebrate. And sure, achieving a specific goal is great. But that focus sometimes can make you forget that you cannot reach any goal unless you start. 

Sometimes we hesitate to start because we know whatever we’re doing won’t be perfect, or that we aren’t “ready,” or we already know it will take a long time, and the thought of all that work and effort towards a goal we can’t be sure of reaching is overwhelming. My solution is to remind myself that the beauty of the start of anything is that it isn’t supposed to be perfect. It’s fully incomplete. We don’t yet know what it will take to reach the goal, and that’s fine. It reminds me of the concept of beginner’s mind, the willingness to study something or pursue a goal as if for the first time, open to learn and make mistakes without shame. That to me is what starting is about. Of course I’ll make mistakes. Of course I won’t finish quickly.* Why would I expect otherwise? This is just the start. I win the day if I just start. If I take just a tiny step forward, that’s a win, that’s the start.

Whether you’re writing a novel, starting a healthy habit, creating a work of art, preparing a new garden, whatever it is, don’t wait for perfect or magic. Just start.

And then, tomorrow, start again. No matter how far you are in the process, let each day be a fresh start. You never have to be perfect. You just have to start.

*Note: there are some tasks I procrastinate because there’s something about them that I dislike or dread. Yet more often than not, if I just start, I find out the task I put off for weeks, letting it nag at me like a weight of guilt on my shoulders, winds up only taking about ten minutes to complete. So just start can be a great strategy to knock out annoying tasks as well as the more inspiring or ambitious ones.