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Published November 17, 2023
Sometimes you have a great idea or even a great plan, but you think to yourself that it's late in the week and that you would rather start on a particular day (Monday is always a good day to start something new after all). Here, you're essentially taking a break before you even get started. The problem with saying that you'll start on a particular day is that once that day arrives, you may get busy and push it back or worse -- the idea you had may have evaporated by then. It's best to get a start as soon as you have an idea. This will give your idea the best chance of coming to fruition.
As soon as an idea hits, at least start the documentation and planning (or pre-planning) phases of it. At a minimum, you will want to write down the idea and take a moment to brainstorm on it to get every idea you have around it down for later use. This serves two functions: First, you are doing something to move forward with your plan; and second, you are making a record of that plan and the associated details so that it can be implemented later and not just forgotten. This is taking a minimal step in doing something to advance the plan or idea.
If you have a little time, take it a step forward from there and organize your thoughts around your idea. This may be as simple as taking the brainstorming session from above and group the ideas together in sequence of how they need to be performed. This, my friend, is the start of an official plan. And once again, we are doing something to move forward and it won't take too long. Remember the key is to continue to move forward with planning on what you will need to do even if you aren't ready to start actually working on it.
Now that you have your ideas documented and a rough plan in place, you can park the idea if you really cannot start working on it due to other priorities that you have going on. The one thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to lose your documentation so come up with a storage method that works for you. If you plan in a journal, be sure to make a note of where it is for later retrieval (here is where a system like bullet journaling comes in handy). If you're more of a loose paper person, put the plan into its own folder that you can come back to.Just make sure that from time to time you go back through and look at your journal and/or your folders to make sure something hasn't gotten completely dropped. You may surprise yourself by finding a plan you had tucked away a while ago now comes relevant for the project you're currently working on.
If you have your plan in place and have a moment of free time, go ahead and ask yourself what is the next thing that needs to be done and try to work on it at least for a little bit. The idea is to keep your momentum going at all times. This could include doing the research you know you'll need to do at some point. For instance, if you're waiting for something or an appointment, pull out your phone and start searching for the information you know you'll need at some point. This will help you by saving time later and will make the wait time go a lot faster. This will also keep you distracted so you don't get sucked into listening to the conversations going around you in the waiting area. There are people that share too much with those around them.
At any moment, you can almost always come up with prep work for what you intend to do. This keeps you from putting off the start time of your project and keeps the momentum going. A project that never starts has no chance of ever getting completed so start doing something -- anything really -- that will get the project underway. One thing to keep in mind is that once you get moving, it's easier to keep moving, but the first step is to get moving! You don't want to look back and say "Why didn't I start earlier?".
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