4 Things You Need to Stop Doing to Get Started

Finding the strength to take action on your goals and dreams can be incredibly difficult. It doesn’t matter what that goal or dream might be, or how small it may feel in retrospect to what you have already accomplished throughout your life, taking that initial step to turning your desires into your reality can feel seemingly impossible. 

The simple truth is that we oftentimes make the process of getting started a lot more difficult than it needs to be. There is no secret to getting started, no right way to get started, or any of that. The only way to getting started is to actually start…

What we are constantly failing to realize is that the longer it takes us to actually get started towards achieving all that it is that we want to achieve, the longer it is going to take for that goal, that dream, or that desire to become our reality. 

So for all of those people out there who are like me and tend to procrastinate a little too much, I want to share with you 4 things that you need to stop doing to get started and make it a lot easier on yourself.

Stop mapping out every little detail.

What happens when you spend too much time planning and mapping out every little detail about in your life? You do everything but the only thing that actually matters – take action towards whatever it is that you are planning. 

While it’s never a bad idea to have a plan in place (planning is actually a crucial key to any and all success), just make sure that you aren’t over planning to the point where you forget to the action necessary to achieve your goals. 

Instead, start small. Start with a small plan, take action, and keep developing that plan as you go. It makes no sense to spend all of your time and effort planning out something if you aren’t even going to take action towards achieving it. 

Stop making excuses for why you can’t.

I have wanted to start a YouTube channel for quite a while now. Every time that I think about starting it, some excuse magically appears in my head. 

I don’t have the time.

Nobody is going to watch my videos anyhow. 

There are too many others out there who have better ideas than I do. 

These excuses aren’t the truth. I am just using them as a way to stop myself from actually having to do the work. Little do I know that the longer I keep making excuses for myself, the longer it’s going to take for me to turn my goals into my reality. 

The point is, stop making excuses. It’s not that you can’t do something, but rather you aren’t willing to do what it takes to work towards that something. 

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Do everything that you can do to make them count. 

Stop worrying about what others are going to think.

Fun fact: you are going to be judged for anything that you do in life. Good, bad, right, or wrong, you are going to be judged. 

There is always somebody out there who isn’t going to agree with what you are doing or how you are doing it. That’s just fine. Your life is yours to live, not theirs. 

Bronnie Ware used to be a former palliative nurse. In her book The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying, she said that the most common thing she heard from people who were dying is “I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Powerful, isn’t it? But no matter how much we regret worrying about what others think of us, we still do it anyways. We still allow others to determine exactly how it is that we live our lives. And what for? 

One thing that has helped me recently to stop worrying about what others think has been to ask myself this one simple question. “In ten years, am I going to regret NOT doing this?” If the answer is yes, then I’m going to do it. If the answer is no, then I will simply move on. By asking myself this one question, I am able to prioritize what’s truly important to me and what isn’t. It helps me to overlook the thought of being judged by others. 

Stop thinking that you need to wait until the right time.

The best time to get started was yesterday. Seeing that yesterday is no longer an option, make today work for you instead. 

There are always going to be obstacles that are going to stand in your way. There are always going to be challenges that you are going to have to endure. There are always going to be excuses that you can make. But don’t. Push all of your fears and doubts away and just get started. 

It doesn’t matter how small you get started, all that matters is that you do. Once you start, you will gain a sense of momentum to keep going. And, with every moment you take action, you are just that much closer to turning your goals into your reality. 

Final Thoughts

It’s not going to be easy to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself, but unless you just get started, you will never even have a chance of turning them into your reality. 

As difficult as it may feel, put one step in front of the other, focus on progression, not perfection, and just get started.

Michael Bonnell