Recently my client was stressing about her 2017 tax records and having to have everything in on time. She declared how unorganised she was due to being so busy and was embarrassed about it. What would her accountant think of her!? She didn’t even know where to start! My advice to her was to make her bed!
Just start. Unfortunately, in this world, more things are said than done and whilst people have many good intentions and many good objectives, they simply don’t know where to start. I say start with the small stuff and do that well – like making your bed.
Making your bed is symoblic of doing something simple and easy that will make us feel good for the day and encourage us to do more complex and challenging things. Doing all the little things well add up to big things – but the big tasks in your life won’t be achieved until you are good at doing the little things – so again, make your bed!
Energy creates momentum, momentum creates action, and action creates results. Action is the stuff of well-being! For many of us, the initial challenge is to create that energy in the first place – to take that first step along the journey that will take us up along the path to our destination.
Yet taking that first step – doing the little things – is extremely daunting for some people. Many of us overthink it – to the extent that we are unable to take that critical first step.
Unless we manage it, overthinking can lead to anxiety, depression and sometimes even death.
Stop thinking and just do. I have a strategy that I get my clients and friends to practice. I call it my strategy of imperfect implementation – just do. In simple terms, it’s just about giving it a crack – whatever “it” is. The good thing about this strategy and in fact life is that if the initial attempts fail, you can always give it another crack. There are, after all, very few things in this life that we can’t change or even start all over again.
It’s all about taking committed action – but as always, the challenge is where to start.
What is the little thing that I should do first – that’s the first step. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you, but you can! All you need to do is pause, listen to your intuition and do. I think the power of gut feeling is underplayed and undervalued. Somehow, we have lost that sense of backing yourself – most probably through fear, anxiety and disappointment. Yet it is the simplest strategy to use to create that required energy.
So, trust your gut, back yourself, take one step, do it well and then take another step. If by chance you don’t succeed, take a breath, go home and relax in your bed…which you made! You started the day with a positive action so give yourself some credit.
