Begin Now, Which Is as Good a Time as Any

.
Many people believe that if they could only initiate tasks they’ve been delaying at the “right time,” the tasks would be easier to begin and complete. For most tasks, there is no objective “perfect” time. I know of people who always wait until the top of the hour to start something, others who wait for a certain day of the week, and yet others who wait for a certain type of whether pattern! This is a self-deluding mind game. As much as you’d like to believe it does, the cycle of the moon does not determine when you should start your work. Give it up.

While there are work-related tasks for which starting at one time is preferred over starting at another, many of the tasks you face in the workplace could be tackled at this time or that with little repercussion. If you fill out your report log at 8:42 rather than 9 A.M. when it’s not due until the afternoon, does it make any difference to anybody?

Do you believe that the IRS cares whether you initiated your taxes and ultimately filed them on February 27 at 10:36 in the morning or at 11:08? If you remove the clothes from the dryer before the news or after the news, are there any notable ramifications worth citing so long as no one is waiting for clean, dry underwear?

If you find yourself waiting for the perfect chance to begin a task, you’re wasting precious time. You are a work in progress, and you can change. Let go of perfectionism. The project you’ve been delaying may not turn out perfectly. Follow through on your plan anyway.

For most of the tasks you face right now that you have delayed starting, the hard-core reality is that there is no perfect time to begin. In many cases, the “perfect” start is simply another in a long line of tricks that your mind plays to make it seem as if there are legitimate reasons for not getting started.

Once you acknowledge that most tasks have no perfect start time, you may recognize that the best time to begin could well be right now! If you find yourself caught in the bind of waiting for a perfect time, such as when the whether changes or when you feel more like doing it, consider that for virtually all indoor tasks, the whether is arbitrary. As for waiting for when you feel like it – “feeling like it” is a state of mind that is under more of your control than you might suppose. When will you ever actually feel like cleaning out the hamster cage? The longer you wait, the dirtier it gets, whether you feel like it or not.

When people receive a check or a complimentary letter in the mail, they often regard that as a good day. Suppose the check or the letter came the day before or doesn’t come until the next day? Determining that one day is better than another because of some external event is part of human nature. Yet, whatever you did to earn the sum or merit the letter was put in motion before the day you received it.

So too, it is erroneous to believe that there is a perfect time to start on tasks. The mental energy you need to put toward a task may already be working for you, long before the time you think is perfect for beginning. Often, the first moment you can start a task is as good a time as any.

When you talk to people who finally finish a project that they have been putting off, all the mental claptrap about the “perfect time” to start falls away. The act of getting started often makes tat moment a perfect time. So, like a “good day,” the concept of a “perfect time” is illusory. When you are able to engender positive feelings – when you get that warm tingling feeling all over – it is a good day. When you are able to begin an important tasks you have been putting off, it is a perfect time.



Regards,



Timben