My recent endeavours to kick-off an activity, has convinced me that it is really difficult to start. Be it waking up early in the morning or starting to write daily or blogging or socialising more or doing over dreaming. There are myriad factors which contributes toward concluding a task either difficult to achieve or procrastinated. However, there are ways to overcome this dilemma. My experiments with some of the theories to conquer these obstacles has attained considerable fulfilment.
To start, means to indulge in an activity at such a level that your participation in that activity from start is nothing but 100%.
There are certain vital factors, which affects the overall ecosystem.
FEAR : In my case, this is the most common reason for failing to start.
I have experienced fear of disparagement, fear of mockery, fear of falling to unknown depths of shame, fear of failure. This has stopped me from doing things, which I ought to. It takes a lot to overcome fear. In my experience, until you take it to the field, you are bound to be surrounded by misconceptions and prejudices. If you don't give it a try, what remains is a bucket full of wishes and non to fulfil.
I remember an episode from my school days. Equestrianism or in layman's term Horse Riding, was something our school used to brag about. It made sense, as some of my friends became international champions during that time. Although I had no interest in Horse Riding, my mother managed to force me into it. "How?" is something even I don't know to this day. However I did like to watch my schoolmates performing acrobatics on the horse, horse jumping, or galloping. It all seemed macho to me. Hence I decided to give it a try.
All the horses were young and undomesticated. I, innocent little boy, had no clue what was in the store for me. On the very first day, I was instructed to climb on a horseback. Thats it, with no further instructions given, I was asked to trot out the horse. That day I fell from the horse. Not to forget, everyone laughed. I thought its ok to fall, if you are beginner. Thats what you think when you fall from the bike for the first time. It did not matter much to me then. But the incidents of falling from the untamed horses never stopped and became prevalent. I started assimilating negative thoughts about never able to learn riding a horse or possibility of hurting myself. I thought to discontinue.
But there were somethings that changed my decision. My mother made sure I learn and not back off. My instructor (Motu Uncle, "Fat Uncle") inspired me to show up everyday in the horse stable. My friends used to pull my leg and call me names. I had to prove myself. I had to overcome all the mental blocks some how. So I did start again, I continued. I did learn the skill, how not to fall. I enjoyed and struggled every nanosecond. I participated at a national level championship. The experience is all I cherish every now and then.
In the history of my school, I am hopefully holding the record for tripping off the horse, most number of times. The irony is, nobody knows this fact but me.
COMFORT ZONE : In all these years, I have known that nothing is permanent. Everything changes, regardless of your effort to oppose so. And that includes you and you comfort zone.
I want to teach poor kids, but I hardly get time on weekends because I am tired of the week long hectic job.
I want to loose weight, but I can't give up using the elevator. I anyhow burn a lot of calories while travelling.
I personally feel reluctant most of the times to step out of the comfort zone. Remember that all the unhealthy and biased opinionated jargon is stuck in your brain so beautifully that your mind and body are almost every time going to give up against your endeavours. However, once you step out of the cozy zone, against the command of your brain, you will be greeted with lot of bad and good surprises. You are going to cross paths with comfort-zonies and will be tempted to go back to the sweet cocoon. But don't, this is again your brain speaking for you. Try to fool your brain and keep going. Once you learn to deal with it, this new environment is going to become comfort zone for you. Adopt this strategy, so that every time you step out of your comfort zone, you will be expanding your comfort boundaries. This will ultimately help you in overcoming fear in long run.
PRIORITISATION : When you multitask, it becomes difficult to prioritise a task over other. More often we tend to give importance to trivial tasks, at the cost of our valuable time. Its is completely all right to multitask, however its important to set correct priorities for each task. I used to multitask, I still do less frequently. I have realised that it is terrible in execution and entirely chaotic in my head. I sometimes get tangled in the cobweb of tasks, unable to figure out "how and what" am I going to achieve out of this.
I faced a problem recently. I had enrolled for a course on Coursera, which I really wanted to complete and learn from. During the same time, I started working on a ProBono project. I also had a conference to address to in the coming days. Also I planned to write this article, in the same month. I also have to prepare for my upcoming GRE test. On top of all this, I have a day job to attend to. I had utmost interest in all these tasks, with no clue of how I am going to manage them gracefully. I started working in a ad-hoc manner. Things started falling apart. I was missing that undivided attention while execution. Neither were all the tasks complete nor could I get satisfaction out of it.
I decided to drop out certain tasks from the bucket. I started to work on one task at a time or give dedicated time to each task. This was more fruitful and satisfactory approach. To the least, I was able to start and complete a task.
ENVIRONMENT : No, I am not talking specifically about the flora and fauna, or the pollution, or the honking of vehicles or green house gases. Your environment is your friends and family, your workplace, home, source of knowledge and wisdom and learning, tangible things around you that affects your decisions. They play a vital role in shaping up your future roadmap.
I wanted to learn to play Flute. Since there is a craze out there to learn Guitar and other fancy musical instruments, my choice was bound to attract surprises mainly from my friends. They had truckload of advice for me about this being a silly decision and how I am anyways going to abandon all of it somewhere down the line. Well I did join the class and I had to leave it because I lacked determination, I gave more importance to other things.
I find solitude, interesting conversation with family and friends, smart people at workplace, novels, interesting blogs, content on Quora as some of the galvanising and encouraging elements, which turn ideas into action. Try to find similar elements in your environment. I am sure you will feel the push to start.
Complacency : It is more or less similar to the Comfort Zone. If you feel secure enough, you might turn down opportunities bearing potential risks and never start.
Patience, Persistence, Self criticism, Self confidence are some of the other aspects which affect your decisions to start.
For me, all this comes at the expense of being ready to welcome change in me and my surroundings.
To start, means to indulge in an activity at such a level that your participation in that activity from start is nothing but 100%.
There are certain vital factors, which affects the overall ecosystem.
FEAR : In my case, this is the most common reason for failing to start.
I have experienced fear of disparagement, fear of mockery, fear of falling to unknown depths of shame, fear of failure. This has stopped me from doing things, which I ought to. It takes a lot to overcome fear. In my experience, until you take it to the field, you are bound to be surrounded by misconceptions and prejudices. If you don't give it a try, what remains is a bucket full of wishes and non to fulfil.
I remember an episode from my school days. Equestrianism or in layman's term Horse Riding, was something our school used to brag about. It made sense, as some of my friends became international champions during that time. Although I had no interest in Horse Riding, my mother managed to force me into it. "How?" is something even I don't know to this day. However I did like to watch my schoolmates performing acrobatics on the horse, horse jumping, or galloping. It all seemed macho to me. Hence I decided to give it a try.
All the horses were young and undomesticated. I, innocent little boy, had no clue what was in the store for me. On the very first day, I was instructed to climb on a horseback. Thats it, with no further instructions given, I was asked to trot out the horse. That day I fell from the horse. Not to forget, everyone laughed. I thought its ok to fall, if you are beginner. Thats what you think when you fall from the bike for the first time. It did not matter much to me then. But the incidents of falling from the untamed horses never stopped and became prevalent. I started assimilating negative thoughts about never able to learn riding a horse or possibility of hurting myself. I thought to discontinue.
But there were somethings that changed my decision. My mother made sure I learn and not back off. My instructor (Motu Uncle, "Fat Uncle") inspired me to show up everyday in the horse stable. My friends used to pull my leg and call me names. I had to prove myself. I had to overcome all the mental blocks some how. So I did start again, I continued. I did learn the skill, how not to fall. I enjoyed and struggled every nanosecond. I participated at a national level championship. The experience is all I cherish every now and then.
In the history of my school, I am hopefully holding the record for tripping off the horse, most number of times. The irony is, nobody knows this fact but me.
COMFORT ZONE : In all these years, I have known that nothing is permanent. Everything changes, regardless of your effort to oppose so. And that includes you and you comfort zone.
I want to teach poor kids, but I hardly get time on weekends because I am tired of the week long hectic job.
I want to loose weight, but I can't give up using the elevator. I anyhow burn a lot of calories while travelling.
I personally feel reluctant most of the times to step out of the comfort zone. Remember that all the unhealthy and biased opinionated jargon is stuck in your brain so beautifully that your mind and body are almost every time going to give up against your endeavours. However, once you step out of the cozy zone, against the command of your brain, you will be greeted with lot of bad and good surprises. You are going to cross paths with comfort-zonies and will be tempted to go back to the sweet cocoon. But don't, this is again your brain speaking for you. Try to fool your brain and keep going. Once you learn to deal with it, this new environment is going to become comfort zone for you. Adopt this strategy, so that every time you step out of your comfort zone, you will be expanding your comfort boundaries. This will ultimately help you in overcoming fear in long run.
PRIORITISATION : When you multitask, it becomes difficult to prioritise a task over other. More often we tend to give importance to trivial tasks, at the cost of our valuable time. Its is completely all right to multitask, however its important to set correct priorities for each task. I used to multitask, I still do less frequently. I have realised that it is terrible in execution and entirely chaotic in my head. I sometimes get tangled in the cobweb of tasks, unable to figure out "how and what" am I going to achieve out of this.
I faced a problem recently. I had enrolled for a course on Coursera, which I really wanted to complete and learn from. During the same time, I started working on a ProBono project. I also had a conference to address to in the coming days. Also I planned to write this article, in the same month. I also have to prepare for my upcoming GRE test. On top of all this, I have a day job to attend to. I had utmost interest in all these tasks, with no clue of how I am going to manage them gracefully. I started working in a ad-hoc manner. Things started falling apart. I was missing that undivided attention while execution. Neither were all the tasks complete nor could I get satisfaction out of it.
I decided to drop out certain tasks from the bucket. I started to work on one task at a time or give dedicated time to each task. This was more fruitful and satisfactory approach. To the least, I was able to start and complete a task.
ENVIRONMENT : No, I am not talking specifically about the flora and fauna, or the pollution, or the honking of vehicles or green house gases. Your environment is your friends and family, your workplace, home, source of knowledge and wisdom and learning, tangible things around you that affects your decisions. They play a vital role in shaping up your future roadmap.
I wanted to learn to play Flute. Since there is a craze out there to learn Guitar and other fancy musical instruments, my choice was bound to attract surprises mainly from my friends. They had truckload of advice for me about this being a silly decision and how I am anyways going to abandon all of it somewhere down the line. Well I did join the class and I had to leave it because I lacked determination, I gave more importance to other things.
I find solitude, interesting conversation with family and friends, smart people at workplace, novels, interesting blogs, content on Quora as some of the galvanising and encouraging elements, which turn ideas into action. Try to find similar elements in your environment. I am sure you will feel the push to start.
Complacency : It is more or less similar to the Comfort Zone. If you feel secure enough, you might turn down opportunities bearing potential risks and never start.
Patience, Persistence, Self criticism, Self confidence are some of the other aspects which affect your decisions to start.
For me, all this comes at the expense of being ready to welcome change in me and my surroundings.
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