“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.“ -Lao Tzu

This is the time of year when we start looking ahead to spring cleaning. We clear out the clutter from our homes, our relationships, and our lives in general to get a fresh new start to go along with the rebirth of the year. In a lot of cases, this means taking care of all of those tasks that we’ve been putting off for ages because they’re unpleasant or because they seem too difficult.

Many of us are hung up on the idea that we have to complete a job all at once, and if there is no time to finish it we just don’t start. Things that can’t be done immediately are often put off until they pile up and become overwhelming - and being overwhelmed means that we may panic and simply not tackle the task at all.

The next time you have something to do that seems too difficult to bother with, or you don’t have enough time or energy to finish an important job right away, consider doing it in small stages. This way, all you have to worry about for the time being is getting started. Once you get started, you only have to worry about the next very small chunk of work. This is a simple thing to do, but a lot of us just don’t think about breaking up a job instead of forcing ourselves to finish what we start right away.

This concept can be applied to nearly everything, from organizing to cleaning to writing and whatever else you find yourself faced with. Mark Twain said it best: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”