Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that if you are working on something big,
Speaker 1: just get going with whatever part you feel you can do.
Speaker 1: We often start at the very beginning, because, in the
Speaker 1: words of the famous song, that is a very good
Speaker 1: place to start. But it is not the only place
Speaker 1: to start. You can begin anywhere. Today's tip comes from
Speaker 1: the field of design thinking, an approach that focuses on
Speaker 1: developing ideas for possible solutions, testing them out, and refining
Speaker 1: them based on what you learn. According to author Warren Berger,
Speaker 1: begin anywhere as an important principle of design thinking. He
Speaker 1: explains that the principle was borrowed from the composer John Cage,
Speaker 1: who thought you could begin a musical composition anywhere within
Speaker 1: the composition. In other words, you don't necessarily have to
Speaker 1: compose the opening bars first. If you've got a good
Speaker 1: idea for a musical moment in the middle, go ahead
Speaker 1: and start there. You can figure out what's around it
Speaker 1: based on what you have created. With big projects, in general,
Speaker 1: almost any starting point will do. What you learn will
Speaker 1: help you figure out what aspect of the work to
Speaker 1: work on next. I definitely do this with my books.
Speaker 1: If I am working on a chapter, I might not
Speaker 1: know exactly how I plan to start the chapter, and
Speaker 1: the opening might change in any case, but if I've
Speaker 1: got a good example I know I'm going to include,
Speaker 1: I can write that portion first. I don't always write
Speaker 1: the chapters in order either. If I have all the
Speaker 1: material for chapter five before I have the material for
Speaker 1: chapter three, I can write chapter five first. That's fine.
Speaker 1: It all needs to get written eventually, so best not
Speaker 1: to sit around waiting for chapter three to pull itself together.
Speaker 1: So it goes for many things. If you are overwhelmed
Speaker 1: at the sight of your attic, just pick one box
Speaker 1: figure out what to do with everything in it, or,
Speaker 1: as some people have advised, grab a garbage bag and
Speaker 1: start identifying things in your attic you know you could
Speaker 1: throw away. You can begin anywhere. If you want to
Speaker 1: start a blog, just write a post. It doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be your introductory post or heaven forbid, your lifetime manifesto,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to know what sections you want
Speaker 1: on the site. Just start writing that first post, and
Speaker 1: the one after that will help you figure out your purpose.
Speaker 1: Your website, organization, and your voice. If you want to
Speaker 1: cook more, make dinner tonight. Start with the rice you
Speaker 1: know you're going to be making. No need a meal
Speaker 1: planned for the week, or order a stack of cookbooks
Speaker 1: or reorganize your pantry. That can come later. For now,
Speaker 1: just cook a meal, see how it goes. Iterate from there.
Speaker 1: Don't waste time feeling stuck or figuring out the very
Speaker 1: beginning of something. Instead, dive in with what you know
Speaker 1: you can do. Then, with what you learn from your experience,
Speaker 1: you can adjust and refine your plans. You can keep
Speaker 1: on going until you have taken your project to completion.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.