The One Hundredth
Today is my 100th Sunday starter email. 100 weeks I stuck with my commitment to writing something new. 100 Sunday mornings I successfully sent out an email. When I saw the number it made me think about how much work I had done over the last two years to get to day 100. It took sacrifice. It took passion. It took commitment. But looking back, I think the hardest part was not getting to Day 100, it was getting to Day 1.
Looking at my life right now I am on many different journeys. The day this email goes out I will be on day 43 of completing a 5K every day, day 50 of doing at least 10 minutes of yoga every day and day 160 of being an EMS volunteer. Each of those things has been hard to stick with, but Day whatever only happens with courage on Day 1.
For me, there were three things I did that helped me get to the beginning:
I lowered the bar
I told someone about it
I made it specific
Lowering the bar means you start easy. When I began the yoga every day, 10 minutes felt so silly. Would this even make a difference? The goal though was to make getting to Day 1 as easy as possible and to pick something that I could be consistent with. When I first thought about it, I wanted to try for 30: surely 30 minutes of light stretching is something I should be doing every day? While that may be true, and often I do more than my required 10 minutes, by keeping the bar low I was able to start quicker and keep with it even on my hardest days.
You can always jump higher - a low bar makes you more likely to jump at all.
Telling someone about it is Accountability 101. If you share your idea with a friend or significant other, you have now somewhat formalized your commitment. It's no longer just an idea in your head, but you give it a chance to take shape. When I first saw the sign looking for volunteer first responders, I told my husband about it. I never knew you could volunteer as an EMT and I would have never gotten to the point of signing up if I hadn't talked to him. He's the one that encouraged me to make the call and find out more information.
Accountability is not just something we need after we start - it's often the thing that gets us started at all.
Finally, by working through the logistics of where, when, and for how long, you are forming your plan and making it attainable. When I started writing I didn't just say I'm going to write more. I said I'm going to write one post every week and I will send it Sunday morning at 7am. I also lowered the bar by committing to writing something that could be read in 2 minutes. It didn't have to be long, but it had to be something. Articulating the details ahead of time takes a lot of the decisions out of the process; decisions that hinder starting goals and keeping with them.
Making goals specific takes the guess work out of success - you can't win a race without a start and finish line.
What have you been wanting to try? What have you been putting off out of fear or uncertainty? Every day has the potential to be Day 1. New routines are hard but don't let that keep you from getting to Day 43, 50, 100, 160 and beyond. If reading this you start to think about something you want to do - tell someone about it. Talk it out with them and think through the details. Then, whatever your first instinct is for what you want to do, choose something easier.
For more help on starting, check out the first Sunday Starter I ever sent, How to Start When Starting Is Hard, or some of these old posts that hold more ideas and encouragement to get you to Day 1:
