I Don’t See How You Can Ever Finish If You Don’t Begin

-Or Time keeps on slipping slipping into the future

Feb 02, 2023

"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!"

Think. Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.

We have finally reached LOE-6, Responsibilities. This is the part where I am supposed to tell you to quit your job, sell your worldly possessions, and move to an ashram to seek enlightenment.

Unfortunately, according to a cursory internet search, it can cost quite a pretty penny to stay in an ashram indefinitely, so unless you are independently wealthy, you will still need to have a J.O.B. (which may negate the whole ashram experience).

Most of us, if we hope to enjoy the bottom rung of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Food, water, clothing, and shelter, have got to work.

For simplicities sake let’s call it 40 hours per week, or 1/3 of our total available time- 5 days per week.

Then there are other responsibilities, chores, yard work, and things you have committed to which cut into the day. To graphically represent this, I learned how to make a rudimentary sunburst chart:

It was a challenge not to fill the day too rapidly. For example, the chart shows only 6 hours of sleep (which we know is not enough for optimum performance). There is no commute time, no phone scrolling, no TV viewing, and no toenail clipping.

So how do we expect to fit in the things we have been telling ourselves we don’t have time for?

That’s the question.

The simple answer is to just start. Start small but start. My all-time favorite quote comes from Scottish explorer William H. Murray:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”
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Or, as Aristotle said a bit more succinctly, “Well begun is half done.”

Or, as Alice said of the Mock Turtle, “I don’t see how he can ever finish if he doesn’t begin.”

So, what can we do?

Start now: In Alice in Wonderland when the March Hare offered Alice “some more tea.” She replied, “I’ve had nothing yet, so I can't take more.”

The Mad Hatter pointed out, “You mean you can't take less. It’s very easy to take more than nothing."

It is also very easy to do more than nothing. Five minutes of something is better than zero minutes of nothing.

Realize this: No one should care more about your success than you.

Prioritize:

Must do.
Need to do.
Want to do.

Achieving your goals must be a must-do.

Eat the biggest frog first: As Ben Franklin said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. If it’s your job to eat two frogs, eat the biggest one first.” This is why I’m a fan of early-morning workouts-get it out of the way.

With too much to do and too little time, you can feel like you are drowning.

Trade money for time: Outsource when it makes sense, or when you can. Knowing when to let the pros do something for you can save not only time but frustration, foul-ups, and procrastination. Pay a neighborhood kid to do some chores and make time for the priorities.

Dual purpose events: As mentioned above, I didn’t plan time for a commute, but if I use my learning time to listen to a podcast on my drive, I can kill two birds with one stone. Maybe I can make a phone call to a friend on my commute home to shore up my Relationship LOE.

I was recently working with one of my coaching clients who lamented the fact that since he was getting back into running he couldn’t find time to meditate.

I first reminded him of the Dali Lama quote:

“Sleep is the best meditation.” - Dali Lama

I wouldn’t prioritize meditation if you are not getting enough sleep.

Plus, running can be a form of meditation. Now, before I get a bunch of nasty emails from meditation advocates, my only point is that there is more meditation in running than there is running in meditation.

I find openness and a clear mind during long slow distance runs and intense, single-minded focus on breath and pace during a harder run.

`If you knew Time as well as I do,′ said the Hatter, `you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.

So, find the places where you are wasting time and stop.

Before long, you’ll have time to ‘believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast’, and complete them before dinner.

Read. Noise by Joseph McCormack

Joe happens to be a friend of mine. He also has a great podcast, Just Saying that you should check out.

This book is all about teaching you how to avoid becoming a casualty of “weapons of mass distraction.” Find more time, or at least make your time more productive by turning down the noise.

Write.

So, this section is called ‘Write’ for a reason. I’m a writer and this is where I talk about it. But what happens when it becomes difficult to write?

I was talking with a friend recently about Steven Presfield’s excellent book, The War of Art. In it, he defines what is often called writer’s block as ‘Resistance’ and says,

“Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.”

As I struggle to finish my memoir, Tough Rugged Bastards, I have been banging my head against that enemy. I’m sure this feeling is shared by many of you who are working to complete something you’ve started.

The good news is that resistance only tries to stop you when you are doing something worthwhile. You won’t face resistance when you are busy binge-watching TV.

If we’ve learned anything from Alice in Wonderland it is that risk has rewards and that some rabbit holes need to be gone down if you are going to figure out who you really are and where you’re going.

Repeat. Today it’s words of wisdom from Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland.

“But it’s no use now,” thought poor Alice, “to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!”

“The best way to explain it is to do it.”

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”