The 5-Minute Start

It’s one of those rare, perfect summer mornings, when it’s warm enough to be outside but not too hot. I am cooling off from a run, sipping a cold brew coffee, waiting for my turn in the shower. I decide to write in my neglected journal. Almost immediately, I remember that I still haven’t started that blog I’ve been thinking about.

To be honest, I’ve been putting off starting this blog for quite a while.

What are the reasons for that? Oh, there are many: I’m too busy, for one. How will I find the time? (But I am finding the time to write in my journal about how I want to start a blog. I am fighting the temptation to reach for the easy distraction of my phone, which could easily eat up the next half hour.)

Fear is there, too. Fear of failure, that I’ll sit down and won’t have anything to say, that I won’t say anything people want to hear.

“During a 5-minute start, the pressure is off – because the goal is only to start a task, not to finish it, perform it, or perfect it. Just start.”

Here’s the thing: At some point, it doesn’t matter what’s holding me back, the why not. None of those things will change the fact that I have a deeply desired goal to start this blog.

The why of the goal – that’s important. I shift my attention there. I want my website to offer personal, useful content. I want a forum to share the positive psychology concepts I am learning and how they are helping me. I want a place to have a conversation about that with others. These are the desires that pull me forward.

There’s always going to be a “why not,” never going to be a perfect time. But today, writing about this in my journal, I remember the simple trick of the “5-minute start.”

There’s no magic to it. It’s exactly what it sounds like: committing to starting that task you’ve been putting off, just for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, if you want, you can stop.

But boy, does it get to the heart of things this morning!

No time? I have 5 minutes.

Fear of failure? How can I possibly succeed or fail in the next 5 minutes? (Unless my goal is to run a 5-minute mile ... in which case I will definitely fail.)

For the next 5 minutes, the pressure is off – because the goal is only to start a task, not to finish it, perform it, or perfect it. Just start.

Seems like it’s worth trying, I wrote in my journal. I’ll try it ... tomorrow.

And then my coach brain kicked in: How about now? If I have 5 more minutes to write in my journal, or sit on my sunny patio enjoying the morning, or wait for my husband to get out of the shower ... why not open my laptop, pick an idea (any idea!), and start my 5 minutes right now?

It’s important to hear the tone of this question. Because I’ve tuned into my why (instead of my why not), it’s a gentler question. It’s a tone of curiosity. There is no blame, no judgment, no incriminations about why I haven’t started sooner. It’s a loving question, from the (inner) coach who is 100% on my side, who wants only for me to achieve that goal I have set for myself. It’s an invitation: How about now?

And you know what? It worked.

How about you? What task have you been putting off, what goal are you having trouble finding time to pursue, what dream are you saying you’ll start working toward ... tomorrow?

Why not now?