Bring On 2021!

Less Thinking, More Doing

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

~Zig Ziglar~

Here we are at the top of a brand new year, hoping and praying that it is better than what 2020 provided for us. Many of us are walking cautiously into the year as if walking into a store where everything is made of delicate glass. Some of us are walking in just as hopeful as we walked into 2020. However you are approaching this year, my biggest hope for you is that you don’t let the unfortunate parts of 2020 hold you back from embracing 2021. One of my favorite quotes is by Zig Ziglar (listed above). As a self proclaimed procrastinator and perfectionist I have learned that I can practically talk myself out of doing anything. I usually feel bad that I didn’t start doing the thing sooner because so much time has passed and I could be so much further along. Its truly a horrible cycle. It can also be difficult to push through to start for so many reasons. Fear that it may not be just right, uncertainty, low motivation and energy, and a host of other things can make it difficult to start. One major thing that keeps us from starting is feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes we think about the big picture and it feels daunting. I felt this way about starting my business. I would think about it and it scared me, the responsibility, how would it be sustainable? How would I run the business and see clients? It was a lot. But what I realized is that oftentimes dreams don’t come to fruition overnight. Much like how we don’t get to be who we are as humans overnight. Like most things in life, it is a process. So I broke it down into the smallest things I could do daily to work on the goal. My daily mantra was “start somewhere.” When I worked on it daily I saw it come to life. The more I saw it come to life, the more I wanted to work on it until it became what it is now. Starting is half the battle and it helps us to have something to build upon. The process is also filled with lessons that grow us and develop us in ways to be better for the things we are working toward. So a few things to get us going when we decide we want to start….

~Take it in small parts.

Chunk it down into small parts. Find something you can do daily even if it is the

smallest thing. Find ways to integrate something related to your goal or task into

your daily life.

~Determine your why and never forget it.

What is your motivation for doing the thing in the first place. Your why will be

unique to you. When you start to feel unmotivated or just don’t want to revisit your

why.

~Write it down. Spend time with it.

When we transfer what is in our minds to paper we are able to see it from a different perspective. Write down the thoughts that come to your mind and look at them from a different perspective for planning and execution.

~Let go of perfectionism.

This one is hard. But I like to think of it like this. Nothing starts out pretty. We make it

prettier as we work on it. Let go of the need for it to be perfect to start. Start and let the

beauty unfold.

~Let the excuses go.

As humans we can justify anything. As long as excuses exist we will never start. Don’t

cheat yourself with excuses.

~Have grace and self compassion.

When you fall short of accomplishing your daily goal or any goal, the worst thing we can

do is be hard on ourselves. We have to have grace and compassion to get through

hardship and try again. Positive self talk and positive affirmations get us through the

good time and the not so great.

My greatest hope this year is that we don’t let anything keep us from reaching our highest potential. Happiest New Year to you and yours from Self Work with Jess! Light, love, and blessings to all of us as we start the beginning of this new year. Cheers to 2021!