You’re Never Going To…

I used to have a full-time job. Now I’m self employed.

But when I was working, I had a strong desire to write a book. I actually wanted to write many books. I wasn’t sure which book I wanted to write first, but I knew I’d do it – when I had the time. I figured one day I’d be working for myself and get around to doing some writing. I’d be an author.

Fast forward to a few months ago. I was self employed. I had at least two hours each day where I could work on my books. But I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t writing. This fact was true about me and it’s probably true about you: if you aren’t willing to start now, you’ll probably never do that thing you want to do.

I wanted to write a book. But it seemed like too big of a project to take on when I really only had about 30 minutes each day to work on it. Now I had two or three hours of spare time during my work day (plus a few more here and there).

I finally started and now I’m getting close to a finished devotional for creatives. But I could have had this written two years ago if I had merely started. Here’s a few things I learned about the process that you can use whether you have ten minutes a day or three hours a day. You can accomplish your big goal. I used this for launching Sunday| Magazine, writing my book, starting a new business, blogging…everything I do.

1. Break it up into manageable steps. I was going to write one devotional each day. That was a bit too much, so I ended up settling on one every other day – with a day of research between each. Very manageable.
2. Set a deadline based on those steps. I knew I wanted 31 devotionals. They each took two days. So I’d be finished in about 62 work days. The deadline helped me stay on track.
3. Don’t be perfect. Sometimes my blogs don’t live up to the quality I want. Sometimes I wasn’t able to finish a devotional fully. Sometimes I had to compromise on the quality of something. But I got things done. You have time to go back and complete things or refine things. The key is to get something done.

And the first and final step is to start. And keep starting. You’ll miss days. You’ll be sick. But stick to your vision. Because if you don’t do it now, you’re never going to…

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