Don’t Delay, Start Today!
“I’m going to start eating better on Monday.”
“Next month I will begin that project.”
“I’ll clean up the house tomorrow...or at least by the weekend.”
Have you ever said any of these phrases? I know I have. I always want immediate change with a fresh start but in turn delay the start date. Why? What’s the difference in eating healthy on Monday than on a Thursday? The difference is 4 extra days of unhealthy eating that I will regret, and a 4 day delay to my progress on my health journey. That project is not going to get easier because you decided to wait. And news flash, if you wait until the weekend to clean up you will only have more to clean, not less.
Despite knowing all of this, I still tend to delay my new beginning. Why? I believe it’s because of the overwhelming amount of pressure I put on myself to not only begin the project but to also complete the project once I begin. Or to get the entire house clean within the allotted amount of time that I have slotted for myself. And don’t even get me started on the pressure of wanting to lose weight and be at my weight goal a month later.
Well, I have been set free and I am here to do the same for you! There is a secret our mothers didn’t tell us growing up. But I’m here to spill the beans. After I tell you this you will never want to delay a project again. Ok, enough stalling the secret is…
you don’t have to do it all in one day!
Whew! I know, I took a sigh of relief too!
Yes, you can take your time. It’s ok if the project takes longer than expected. It’s ok, if the house takes 3 days to clean instead of 1. Most of all it’s not the end of the world if it takes a year to get to your goals instead of 6 months. A little bit of progress is still progress. It all counts towards the big picture.
In the past when I wanted to start yet another diet (a word I have grown to hate, but we’ll talk about that another day). I would wait to start because in my mind I would need to do a complete overhaul of my kitchen, throw everything away, spend $300 at the store getting all new groceries and things that I needed along with a brand new gym membership. Only to throw my body into complete shock and tire myself out in a few weeks, eventually leading to me quitting. Again!
However, this does not have to be the case. You can start today by giving yourself simple tasks that will aid in the progression of your main goals. For instance, this time when I started my health journey, I didn’t throw away one item in my kitchen. I didn’t even set out to eat differently yet. I just simply gave myself simple tasks I could start today, as in right now, without turning my life upside down and spending ridiculous amounts of money on groceries that would end up going bad. The simple tasks I set for myself were drinking a gallon of water a day (even on the weekend), and to eat smaller portions. I could still have what I wanted just less of it. Well, I have plenty of water as well as a few water jugs with measurements that will tell me if I have drank a gallon of water. I also already have food at the house and with eating less of it, it should actually help save money at the grocery store since it would take longer to consume. Meaning it would be around longer which would lead to fewer trips to the store. Just like that I had started my health journey with no delay and $0 spent. Ain’t God good?!
This doesn’t just have to pertain to getting healthy. Another daunting task for me is to wash my hair. While I love my hair, I have a lot of it and often don’t want to have to manage it myself. So on the rare occasions I have to wash it myself it feels like a major project. This is partially because a wash is not simply a wash. It is a wash, a blow dry, and flat iron or whatever style I choose to put it in. In other words, it’s TOO MUCH! Most times the task seems so overwhelming to me that I delay for days, sometimes weeks. (PSA: black women are not required to wash their hair as often as other cultures. By washing our hair too often it could cause the hair to dry out and cause damage to the hair. So me waiting weeks is not as bad as it sounds.) But a few weeks ago I had an epiphany; who says I have to do this all at once? I can tackle this in increments. So one day I went to the beauty store to purchase the necessary items to wash and style my hair, effectively starting the hair washing process. Because, how can you wash hair without shampoo? The next day I washed and blow dried my hair, and finally the day after that I flat ironed my hair. Once again, another daunting task made easy and started without delay.
So, you see your new project doesn’t have to weigh you down. Just pick one thing you can do today and start there. In the famous words of Benjamin Franklin…
“Don't put off until tomorrow what you CAN do today.”