Initial Hurdles: Lower the Bar

Sometimes a hurdle is just to high to face jumping it. And if you can't face jumping it, you won't even try to get to the other side. Sometimes the problem you're facing is so big and so daunting, that you don't know where to begin, because you certainly don't have what it takes to do it all... and certainly not every day.

The answer is not to try to jump the hurdle (that way lies willpower). The answer is to see if there is a lower hurdle you could face instead.

Perhaps you can't face writing 3000 words in a day. I know I can't keep up with writing 1500 words a day (on a particular subject) for more than about a month at a time. But I can face writing 100 every day. And you ought to be able to face writing 10 words a day... or just one sentence.

Can't face exercise? Would you be happy just walking down the road for 10 minutes each day? Too long? how about 5?

Don't want to start cleaning? Can you just plug the hoover in to the socket in the room that needs cleaning and turn the hoover on? Because that's all you need to do.

None of these challenges are particularly hard. Their not particularly challenging. You can certainly do them every day. And once you've done them, you can see if you've overcome the hurdle to get into the work you've been avoiding. If you have, great. If you haven't - well, there is probably another hurdle to leap. Maybe in a different way. But that doesn't mean you should stop leaping this one, because it brings you nearer to your goal - and every day you do it, you're succeeding.