September 2012

I am so tired. I do not want to write this column today. Okay, here is the deal: I will write one sentence and see what comes out. Whoa! Look at that! I have actually written four. Okay, but I do not need to do any more than that. But you know, now that I have started to write, it is not so hard. But what will I write about? Wait! I have it! How to do a task when we do not want to or are too tired or are procrastinating or are avoiding or…

We all have things that we do not want to do but that we really need to. Perhaps you are exercising, or are trying to. You make a deal with yourself that you will only run for five minutes. It never fails, however, that when you get out there, you do the five minutes and keep on going. The hardest thing is taking that first step. And, yes, sometimes we need to make deals with ourselves to get us to take that first step.

Perhaps you have a room that is really dirty. Cleaning it seems way too overwhelming. So you promise yourself that you only have to clean for fifteen minutes. The next thing you know, an hour has passed, and you can see a patch of clean emerging. Once we see some progress, we get encouraged and it is easier to keep going. We just need to start.

So trick yourself, promise yourself, bribe yourself. Whatever you need to do to get yourself to take that first step. The second and third step is so much easier! Whoa! I just wrote my column! Cool!