Episode 49: Getting Started

Perfectionism can be paralyzing. This week, Janine and Shannon discuss why it can be hard to get started, along with some techniques and strategies for making it easier.

Discussion topics include:

• Using a timer to help you get started on a task

• Janine’s microwave timer method of getting stuff done

• Limiting the number of resources you explore before starting something

• Mark Forster’s trick for fooling the reactive brain to get started

• How getting started is easier if you don’t think you have to finish

• Shannon’s trick for making your project feel less overwhelming: Shrinking your image of it so small you can hold it in your hand

• Learning a new language by studying only five minutes a day

• The difference between not wanting to get started and procrastination

• Shannon’s quiz to help you identify your personal barriers to getting started

• How when the payoff is far away (as in a tax refund) it can be hard to get started

• The fact that negative experiences are more lasting than positive ones

• The key to getting started: Understanding what matters to you + breaking the task into small steps + shifting your perception of the task or project so that it feels doable.