The blog

Have you, like I have, ever thought ​“I would real­ly like to start work­ing in that way, start doing like that, but I nev­er seem to have time to begin; I have so much to do, all the time”?

It may be about being bet­ter pre­pared for meet­ings, or about using to-do-lists, or about tak­ing notes swift­ly about what you and your cus­tomer agreed on in a sales meet­ing, or some­thing com­plete­ly different.

The good thing is that you can always start right now. And, you do not make the com­plete change at once. The trick is to get the ball rolling and then you just have to kick it some more, and then the next kick is eas­i­er to accom­plish and the next one even easier.

What do you nev­er have time for?

What habit would you like to adopt, but nev­er had the time to? Reflect on what would be the small­est pos­si­ble step in that direc­tion. If the habit is about using a to-do-list, decide to write down on a sim­ple note only those tasks that you think of right at the moment. If it is about tak­ing notes on meet­ings, lose the ambi­tion to write a per­fect report, but be con­tent with, at your next meet­ing, only writ­ing down what you agreed on, one sen­tence for each decision.

If the new habit helps you, you will con­tin­ue. It is very pos­si­ble and even like­ly that you peter out after a while and stop doing what you have decid­ed to do. Then, it is easy to feel despair and think of that as an evi­dence of the impos­si­bil­i­ty to change your way of work­ing, that you are to busy to work more effectively. 

To begin is free

But, the good thing is also that you can begin again. And again. And again. If you fail, you can begin again. To begin is free.

… even in your organisation

This is all applic­a­ble for an orga­ni­za­tion. If you feel that you are stuck in putting out fires and man­ag­ing the large, heavy projects, so that you do not have the ener­gy nor the time to start what you know you should, make it sim­ple. What is the small­est pos­si­ble step in the right direc­tion? Do not try to fit in a com­plete pile of tasks in a change project, but get the ball rolling by tak­ing one, only one step in the right direction.

If you get stuck — begin again. And again. Before you know it, you have made progress. Soon enough the change has pro­duced improved results and soon there­after you have cre­at­ed the space you need to be able to focus more on the change in ques­tion. Then you have already made great progress com­pared to if you had wait­ed until you had enough spare time.

What do you want to begin with?

So, what habit or new rou­tine do you want to adopt? What is the small­est pos­si­ble step in that direc­tion? If the step takes less than two min­utes, do it imme­di­ate­ly — and you have already begun.

What is your tip?

What do you do to get going when you are stuck? E‑mail me at {encode=“david@stiernholm.com” title=“david@stiernholm.com”} or post a com­ment below and share your expe­ri­ences. I thrive on lis­ten­ing to oth­er people’s expe­ri­ences and to let them inspire me and peo­ple I meet in my every­day worklife.

Lis­ten to this post.