Coach’s Challenge for January 02, 2005

Good morning Team,

It seems appropriate to acknowledge the New Year with a coach’s challenge about beginning. I have some practical observations about beginnings. 1. We tend to begin the things we like to do without any resistance. 2. We tend to put off beginning the things we don’t like to do. 3. We often ponder when to begin only to find it becomes too late to do. 4. The beginnings of all things are small (this thought comes from Cicero).

When we begin with the more difficult parts of a task, we often find that it is easier to continue on until the task is done. We all know that procrastination only makes the difficult tasks much harder to accomplish. We can use the newness of this time of year to give us the extra energy we need to tackle those things we tend to avoid. It’s a good time to think about short term accomplishments within the context of long term goals. It’s also an opportune time to take initiative in areas we’ve avoided in the past.

Try to see an area in your work where you typically procrastinate and make an effort to begin to work with it, even if it’s a small effort. Sometimes just by beginning to do something, we find that we’ve already accomplished a lot.

“The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start. The fellow who sits still and does just what he is told will never be told to do big things.” Charles M. Schwab

And from Johann Von Goethe, “Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute. What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Begin it and the work will be completed.”

Have a great week!

Kathleen