You know those things on your to-do list that have been there forever? You keep pushing them off to another day, week, or year? They are important. You will get to them. One day.

There are many reasons why we do not get to things on our list. There are higher priority things that take precedence. While that can often be real, challenge yourself. Really? Is everything really a higher priority? Or are you avoiding for another reason?

Perhaps you do not know how to do the task. The process of learning or gathering what is needed can feel overwhelming. Break it down to smaller pieces. What is the first thing that you need to learn or gather? Focus on that only. Once that is accomplished, then you can focus on the second thing and so one.

Perhaps it is unpleasant. We often push off that which is not fun or is decidedly not pleasant. This is understandable. The same strategy can work. Choose one small piece of the task and do that. Then another small piece and so on.

Personally, I am great at procrastinating. I can always find a million things to do when I just do not want to do something. A strategy that I will use at times is to say that I only have to work on the project for 15 minutes, then I can stop. Two things often arise by using this strategy. First, I am always amazed by how much I can get done on the project in the time I have given myself, which of course makes the task smaller and more doable. Then second, once I start and I have noticed that the task is not as bad as I thought, now I can now complete it!

The worst part is often that first step. Whatever strategy works for you to get started, use that. But get started! So then you can get finished!