10 YEARS ago, In the space of one week I sold the house, finalised an amicable divorce (truly) and got a new job in a new city.
That’s starting on a grand scale, ie not for the faint hearted. Here’s a few gentler tips that have worked for me for anything from a newsletter to a new life.
· Understand I will have residual crap feelings about that thing I started that didn’t work out like I hoped it would. I figure out what my part in the mess was (because that’s all I can control).
· I use a process to let that stuff go. (see below for some resources).
· Now I can get excited about your new thing! I let myself really feel how it will be when we sell those tickets, see my client making great progress or hold that book in my hand. This is the fuel.
· I set the old SMART goal with a time frame etc. This is standard practice for a reason – it works. For creative types like me this is a bit of a force – but so worth it.
· Ditto planning – a little every day. Justin Walsh wrote a great post about this (see below)
· Now, just start. A lot of my projects are about the written word, so I just begin– really, anything will do. A shopping list, a nonurgent email, literally anything to warm up the engine.
· I create when I type. I vision when I write with a pen.
· I take one small action every day.
· I understand the small wins and the small goals are all part of the starting again deal. I celebrate these – yes it can be hard to remember to do this but it’s a habit worth building.
· I keep every new ‘Start’ idea in a bank somewhere – a notebook, a file, anywhere but whirling around in my head getting demanding attention. Then I give it attention– is this a pipe dream or something I really want to start?
I LOVE the energy of starting.
And what happened in my big dramatic re-start? My high school aged son started an IG account called Spinstagram, the story of a woman of a certain age living her best life in the Inner West of Sydney. Rude.