Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to create your own momentum. When you
Speaker 1: are feeling stuck on a challenging project, do whatever small
Speaker 1: steps you know you can do. A clever fellow once
Speaker 1: noted that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
Speaker 1: So create some motion. Chances are you'll be able to
Speaker 1: keep going. We all get stuck sometimes when we are
Speaker 1: doing challenging work. We're staring at an empty document when
Speaker 1: the words won't come, or scrolling through a huge set
Speaker 1: of data with no evident starting point for making sense
Speaker 1: of it. Sound familiar. At moments like these, it's easy
Speaker 1: to start to leading emails, anything seemingly productive to distract
Speaker 1: yourself from feeling stuck. But by the time the email
Speaker 1: is deleted, where your office is fully organized, you will
Speaker 1: still be just as stuck, and time you could have
Speaker 1: devoted to your important project has passed with little to
Speaker 1: show for. It much better to figure out a way
Speaker 1: to make progress rather than avoid the project altogether. As
Speaker 1: the familiar saying goes, just start by starting. There is
Speaker 1: surely some small step you know you need to take,
Speaker 1: So take that step and another one. Once you find
Speaker 1: a way to create some momentum on the project, you
Speaker 1: will almost certainly see many more little steps you can
Speaker 1: take to keep moving forward until eventually you are well
Speaker 1: on your way getting something done. Anything done well unlock
Speaker 1: the door to making real progress. So if you need
Speaker 1: to write a report but can't craft an opening sentence,
Speaker 1: just type the headings for each section. Then type ideas
Speaker 1: you have for any section. No need to start from
Speaker 1: the beginning. Write down bullet points or an outline with
Speaker 1: information to include phrases to use that one paragraph you
Speaker 1: know you will need. Whatever comes to mind, anything is
Speaker 1: fair game. Then see whether you can transform some bullet
Speaker 1: points into sentences. String some sentences together step by step,
Speaker 1: you will get unstuck. If you are stuck on a
Speaker 1: slide deck, create titles for each slide. Then you will
Speaker 1: surely think of something that needs to go on some slide,
Speaker 1: which will spark your thinking about something else that belongs
Speaker 1: on another slide. Just like that, you are in motion.
Speaker 1: If you are feeling stuck on planning a big event
Speaker 1: at work, go ahead and set up those meetings you
Speaker 1: know you will need with the facilities manager and the
Speaker 1: catering manager. The questions they ask will point you towards
Speaker 1: specific plans you need to make. Review your notes from
Speaker 1: previous year's events. Does that trigger any memories of next
Speaker 1: steps you can take? Ask yourself, is there one little
Speaker 1: thing I know I can do? Of course, the answer
Speaker 1: is yes. It is always yes, So do that thing.
Speaker 1: Ask yourself the same question again, and do that next
Speaker 1: little thing you come up with. It doesn't really matter
Speaker 1: what your first step is as long as it builds
Speaker 1: your momentum. Once you are moving, it is pretty easy
Speaker 1: to stay moving. So make some progress, no matter how small,
Speaker 1: and before long you will find yourself unstuck and headed
Speaker 1: in the right direction. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. Yeah.