Category: starting

If you asked author Simon Sinek* where all my energy came from on Saturday, he would say that it wasn’t from getting started or getting in the zone, rather that it came from dopamine.  Dopamine is the biological chemical inherent in our bodies that releases when we achieve a goal.  Sinek calls it “an incentive for progress” or how the body is wired to keep us working toward tasks.  When each step of a project is completed, we get a “hit” of dopamine; when something difficult is accomplished, we get a noticeable physical reaction to the triumph.

So as the theory goes, you need to get started to get a chemical release to get you the energy and motivation to get finished.  It sounds like a vicious circle, but can actually function as a motivating cycle.  Even if you don’t feel like you can finish something — whether that be writing a report, running the last mile, losing ten pounds or saving for a cruise — you may, in fact, be able to do so if you factor in the additional boost that you’ll get from achieving incremental steps along the way.  It is the biology behind why self-help experts encourage you to write down your tasks and to break them into manageable, tangible mileposts.  Think of watering stations along a run; incremental action steps are like little dopamine-fix stations where you get an equivalent Dixie cup of energy to push you along.

So the next time you’re tempted to reach for a Mountain Dew or Red Bull, try letting Mother Nature add the boost — simply by starting what you need to finish anyway.

*Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, 2014

As I have written before, I have enough pens, pencils and Sharpies to provide continuous ink for the rest of my days.  I am a professed office supply junkie, a true paper-ophile, peN-ophile, Sharpie-ophile, etc. so all the Back to School sales are like nirvana.  I know I don’t need anything, but who can resist the rock bottom prices that stores use to entice shoppers in their doors.  I admit I cannot.

So over the weekend I came home with a 10-pack of brand new Ticonderoga pencils.  The front of their package exclaims that they are “The World’s Best Pencil”, and I believe them. Who doesn’t have a renewed burst of creativity when opening up the pack and taking out a pre-sharpened HB #2?  

I know I am not alone in my fetish.  There was an article in the paper* by a columnist who is also a self-professed “pen fanatic” who “stockpiles her favorite pens” as she invests “in whatever pen I was convinced at the time was the smoothest.”  I laughed out loud as I thought I was unique in my fleeting loyalty to one pen and then another.  Both of us treat our pens as if they were “magic” pens, and the thoughts flowed from them instead of our brains.

Disney’s Dumbo had his “magic feather” to give him confidence and the ability to do things he did not believe he could do otherwise.  I have special pens to provide inspiration and an enticement to begin writing.  What is your elixir that can transcend reality and provide you with the impetus to do the thing you need to do?  It may not be rational, but it often works. Try to stock up on the equivalent to a new pen today and see how far the inherent energy can take you.

*Lots out there for writers, pen fanatics by Mary Kenyon, August 6, 2014, Telegraph Herald, p. 1C

“The motivation is in the doing.”  Susan Power

A few months ago, I joined a gym for the first time.  As I watched the miracle of physical therapy strengthen my muscles over time, I got the crazy notion that perhaps that type of training may be good for parts beyond my shoulder.  

I was scared to death to walk into the place.  I had a preconceived notion that everyone there was fit, buff, strong and coordinated and that I would stand out like a sore thumb.  So I hired a personal trainer to teach me what the machines even were, let alone how to use them, and develop a routine that would help me instead of result in a return to physical therapy. 

Today as I go to the gym, I don’t think twice about it. I realize that I fit in there as much as anyone else.  We are all in our grubby clothes.  We are all pushing ourselves in ways that cause facial contortions and sweat.  For the most part, we are oblivious to who else is there or what they are doing.  

I also realize that I never want to go to the gym.  But I go anyway and it always feels good to have gone. 

Getting started is often the hardest part.  Whether making that phone call to a trainer to arrange lesson one or today walking into the gym and sitting down at the first machine, there is often more angst in thinking about it than is warranted in actually doing it.

Building strength — whether in muscles or in organizations — requires sustained gradual effort over time.  Don’t wait to lift that first weight.