Photo by Intricate Explorer from Unsplash

Getting started is sometimes the biggest hurdle

Growing up, we all go through experiences that influence our perception and opinions. What might be right for one person might be completely absurd according to someone else.

Without realizing, we just keep moving on with our life one day, opinion and decision after the other. I don’t think most of us even understand how something as trivial as watching that one episode on a Sunday night can impact our ability to execute on an important deadline.

Now let me clarify that there’s nothing wrong with binge watching a show or having a lazy day, all I’m trying to say is - it’s the little things that contribute to the bigger outcome. As Buddha rightly said:

‘Drop by drop is the water pot filled'

Over the last few years, I’ve observed a lot of people around me change. It often makes me wonder how our own beliefs and personalities can evolve over time.

We’ve heard that change is the only constant in life but most of us struggle to find that first step towards change — especially when it’s something that we’ve never done before.

Some of the personal changes I’ve tried to focus on are fitness, reading and meditation. And trust me when I say this, the default reaction that I battled every time I tried to do these things was - 'I don’t think I can get through this’.

I thought about giving up every single time after I jotted down these goals in my journal. After doing this for months, I flipped through the pages and realized that to lead a better life, I will have to overcome this mental hurdle some day.

As a result, I’ve started making little changes rather than doing everything together. I break down my goals into smaller milestones and avoid the negative mental chatter. While I’m still discovering my way to carry out these things, here are a few tips that helped me get started -

• Starting something new should be celebrated as much as reaching the finish line. So every single time I workout, meditate or read, I appreciate my effort
• Changes shouldn’t be associated with instant results. The more you focus on the baby-steps, the more equipped you’d be to reach your goal
• Self-love isn’t a fancy word we read in books, it’s the foundation for leading a better life and needs to be practiced every single day
• It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Your habits will come in handy to help you overcome these feelings
• We have all the resources we need to learn something new, what we lack is the effort to actually inculcate these skills

Don’t forget that every little thing that you want to do will take time, dedication and effort. All you’ve gotta do is keep pushing through the bad days and focusing on the good ones.