One Thing

Some days I wake up in the morning ready to dive in and get my work done. These are the days when everything seems to flow smoothly and everything on my list gets done and there's time to spare. Other days (way more than I'd like) I struggle to wrap my mind around everything that needs to be done and how to get it done in a timely fashion. Even with a plan or a to-do list somehow things just don't seem to come together.

This morning was one of the second type of mornings. I knew what needed to be done, but couldn't seem to pull my thoughts together around the interruptions from the kids, to actually get it done. So I employed one of my fall-back methods for getting started. It's a simple one, but it usually works for me. It's just this -

Do one thing. The first thing I see that needs to be done. It doesn't have to be the most important thing, just something to get me started. Somehow the simple act of doing one simple thing seemed to flip a switch in by brain get me started moving forward.

This morning's one thing was to put a pair ot tennis shoes that desperately needed washing (don't ask) in the washer. From there I moved on to loading and starting the dishwasher . . .

. . . and then to folding and putting away the clean laundry waiting in the laundry room.

By lunch time I also had a second load of laundry started, one of my kitchen counters cleaned off and wiped down and some other misellaneous clutter cleared away, as I moved through my mornig with the kids.

But I had to start with one little, seemingly insignificant step.

Interestingly this seems to work in other areas of life as well. When I feel completely stuck and am having a hard time deciding where to start, stop thinking and do the first thing in front of me. The rest will come after the first little forward momentum.