Getting Started

I know we covered this a few blog posts back, but it is such an important idea to me that I feel like it’s worth backing up and covering a second time.

This morning I trudged in to my kitchen; half awake, to get my kids breakfast before their first day of school. As I flipped on the light switch I realized just how badly I had let the kitchen get over the last week. Our week had been so busy with adventures, play dates, school shopping and other shenanigans that I had completely skipped over majority of the daily house chores. Laundry was heaping over the baskets, the garbage can was full, the table was covered in papers, toys, and dirty cups. The sink was spilling over with dirty dishes. The counters were covered in crumbs and miscellaneous junk. Honestly, my kitchen was disgusting.

Not only was it disgusting… but it was overwhelming. And this is where “getting started” comes in. It is so easy to get discouraged and walk away from anything that seems overwhelming. And the absurd thing is it’s generally not because the task is too overwhelming to accomplish, but because we don’t know where to start first so we give up before we even get started. That is how my morning could have turned out. I could have took one look at my kitchen, got overwhelmed unable to figure out where to even start, and just said screw it and sat down and watched movies all morning.

But I didn’t. I told myself what I often tell myself when I face anything overwhelming, “It doesn’t matter where you start it only matters that you start.” So I walked over to the sink and washed a load of dishes. Then I wiped off the counters and took out the trash. I tossed the laundry in the wash followed by cleaning off and wiping down the table. Then I swept and mopped the floors. Was my kitchen spotless? No. I still have another load of dishes to do and probably 2 more loads of laundry. But, it’s no longer overwhelming. It’s no longer disgusting. Why? Because I got started. And when I finished one task I just jumped in to another.

And that’s the whole point. We cannot get so caught up in the how’s of doing things or the where’s of doing things. We just have to jump in and get started. Maybe it’s not your kitchen, maybe it’s writing a book. Maybe you have a basic idea but you can’t figure out how to start it out so you just leave it sitting there unwritten… unstarted… just living inside your head. Stop. Sit down, bust out your computer and start typing. You don’t have to start with the beginning. Start in the middle. Start wherever your story is at in your head. Then you can go back later and fill in the empty spaces. You just need to start.

Or maybe you’re looking for a job but you’re not sure what you’re looking for. That’s okay. Just start. Make yourself a linkedin account. Send some resumes to different ads in the newspaper. Email some interesting companies and ask if they have openings in any of their departments. Just get started and see what happens.

If you never start - nothing will ever be possible. But if you just get started… anything is possible.