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I've always had a hard time getting started. If I can only get started, I'll keep going. But often getting started can feel all but impossible.

I recently found a solution that is startlingly effective. I hope I can do a good job explaining how it works because the first time it was explained to me, by a coach, I didn't get it. Later I stumbled upon it myself by accident, and then realized it was what that coach years ago was trying to explain to me.

Online 12-step meeting of Procrastinators Anonymous

Sundays 7:30pm GMT (UTC) standard time year round.

• That's 2:30 PM Eastern USA STANDARD Time Sundays or 3:30 PM Eastern USA DAYLIGHT Time Sundays
• That's 7:30 PM British STANDARD Time Sundays or 8:30 PM British DAYLIGHT Time Sundays
• That's 6:30 AM Sydney Australia DAYLIGHT Time Mondays or 5:30 AM Sydney Australia STANDARD Time Mondays
• That's 8:30 AM New Zealand DAYLIGHT Time Mondays or 7:30 AM New Zealand STANDARD Time Mondays

NOTE: Meeting is on GMT standard time year round. Therefore, when your clock changes with daylight savings time, the meeting time will change. Be sure to check above link in RED for the correct time in your time zone.

Click here to find your timezone equivalent [5]

Location: Chatbox on this website, "meeting" room (first tab)

From the P.A. Meeting Materials [7]...

1. Break It Down: Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown.

2. Visualization: Plan what to do, then imagine yourself doing it. The more specific and vivid your visualization, the better. See yourself doing the task, and doing it well.

Demand Resistance - Is It Hurting Your Business? [9]

by Mitch Meyerson

Over the last twenty years, I have seen many forms of self-sabotage. The following psychological concept is one of the more common, yet least identified patterns that holds people back from success.

Simply put, demand-resistance is a chronic negative response to obligations or expectations. It is almost always unconscious.

Here are some common examples:

There are two important levels to the planning process:

1. Planning what to do.
2. Imagining yourself doing it.

Planning What to Do

A common source of procrastination is the idea that we have to wait until we have a big block of time before starting on a task - any task. One of my great frustrations in life is not being able to get done everything I need to get done even when I am trying. I think this is because I don't make good use of the many small pockets of time that are available throughout a day.

This list of tips for getting started was posted by Procrastinator's Anonymous member, Milo (original post here [13]). I'm re-posting it, with minor editing, as an article so it won't get lost:

1. Visualisation. Visualise the task being completed and how good it feels to have it off your list and out of your head.

2. Break it down into small steps. (But don't overanalyse; that's another form of procrastination.)

3. Exercise brute-force willpower. Grit your teeth and say, "I'm just going to do it, dammit!"

There's a saying that, "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well." This is emphatically not true! One of my favorite sayings is this:

"Some things require completion, not perfection."

Perfectionism can stymie us in many ways. Often it prevents people from doing a thing at all. They feel so much anxiety about whether they'll be able to do it perfectly, or feel so overwhelmed with the enormity of trying to do it perfectly, that they're unable to even get started.