Just Start

Just Start

Just start.  Just one foot in front of the next, that very first step is the most important one.  Getting started is the hard part, for most folks just getting going is the hardest part in any particular journey.  Whatever facet of life, we have important starts that we have to do at times in our lives.  When I went to jump school, the "Stand In The Door" command was a rallying cry to jump out of the airplane, the first step being the doozy where you just started the "falling process," the hardest first step.  

If you're super cool
you'll do it on your
hands. 

We look at and celebrate starts - e.g. New Year's Day and New Year's Resolutions.  We see those starts to all the things we think we'll do and become in the coming months.  In all likelihood, we often don't start well, as in, we don't start a habit, but rather we start by saying we'll do something without starting a plan or a routine.  In a recent example from our house, my wife started a new habit with a 2-minute daily treadmill commitment.  Instead of trying to start a new 1-hour on the treadmill, or 1-marathon by next week, she started with a small habit.  Most days, this 2-minute turns into 20, but by only committing to 2 minutes, she gets on most days instead of some, a few, or no days in a row.  You can apply this same process to about whatever else in life - reading...1 page a day, writing...1 page a day, reading to kids...1 book a day.  

The first snowball
starts with the 
first flake...then
an avalanche.

By starting a habit, perhaps especially a small, doable habit, we can get a little momentum to start developing into a snowball.  Similarly, we can likely roll this inertia into something contagious to other parts of our lives.  By starting in one part of life, we can likely get started in several things in life.  For example, starting to go to bed earlier means you can start getting up earlier, which means you can start working out a little, which means you can start getting in better shape, which means you can start feeling better, which means you can start doing more novel experiences, and so forth.  You get the idea here - in this example, we make excuses that we can't go do novel things because, you know, we're too tired.  Whatever example or part of life, meaningful change comes with one small start that turns into several other small starts until your life is changed for the better.  Just get the snowball heading down the hill. 

When we talk about this "starting" power as magical, we can look at compounding/exponential growth as compared to linear growth.  We'll illustrate with a financial example for easy math, but you can apply the same model to other parts of your life.  

Just like grains of
sand, those $1 
bills can become
an army...1 by 1.

In the chart below, we show how $0 input (whether it be finance, or whatever else) gives you 0 output no matter how long you model it.  We can also see that some incremental growth, a "start" so to speak, we start to see real results.  In this example, getting from $100/month to $1,000/month is through a series of small starts.  Let's say you start taking your lunch to work or start delivering pizzas after work, or start whatever small habit or action to raise income/reduce spending.  Those little starts strung together into habits and all of a sudden we're looking at crazy progress over your lifetime.  Extrapolate out these variables and you can see generational/family tree changing potential.  The other day, we were looking at a retirement account (529 to Roth IRA conversions) for our children.  By the time our kids are 65, the $55/hour freelance we were contemplating is $20,000/hourly wage (using compound growth for 60 years).  A little bit of a start on taking a second job all of a sudden is a no-brainer.  

If you invest...	...$0 a month	...$ 100 a month	...$500 a month	...$1,000 a month
After 5 years you'll have	$0	$7,040	$35,200	$70,399
After 10 years you'll have	$0	$17,384	$86,919	$173,839
After 25 years you'll have	$0	$87,727	$438,636	$877,271
* Based on 8% returns

Bringing Spiderman
can never hurt on a
new start.

When we think about starting (or anything else), it's important to look at why we don't "just do it."  As Jill Winger from The Prairie Homesteader put it, "Procrastination often wraps itself in the packaging of due diligence."  This analysis paralysis can occur when we allow preparedness to morph into procrastination.  In many parts of life you'll never be ready...perhaps ready enough...and that's okay.  Growing up as a young adult in the military, and then the fire service...there were many times we were "ready enough."  In one high-angle rescue class, ready enough became clear when 20 minutes into the class we were engaging in firefighter bailouts.  I wasn't ready...but ready enough.  These lessons helped me develop the right attitude and confidence to later in life be "ready enough" for marriage, having kids, job changes, and so many others...just like most things, getting started is a muscle you can develop and hone over time through practice.  

There's a level of preparedness that is only prudent - you should tie knots well before jumping out a window and put on a parachute before exiting the aircraft if you partake in those activities...but at a certain point, the only thing left is to do the thing - start the process - take action.  At some point, and I know it sounds cliche, you've got to depart from the comfort zone and take flight.

Never miss a chance to be
a pirate...especially a 
steam train pirate.  

There is a term, Kaizen in Japanese project improvement, or the idea that small 1% increases in productivity, quality, etc, add up to massive traction over time.  Eventually, those little starts add up to meaningful, life-changing results.  When you think about the difference of one degree from 211 *F to 212 *F is where we hit steam power - it revolutionized the world.  It's the same change as, say 71 *F to 72*F...but has far outsized results in that one gradient.  And...you can only get to 212...if you started and got from 1 to 2, then 2 to 3, and so forth.  The idea is imperfect, decisive, continuous action.  It doesn't have to be perfect...just in the right direction.  

I'll leave you with two quotes "The one good thing about problems is they'll still be problems tomorrow."  John Dutton from Yellowstone and "Be impatient to act, but patient for results"  Huw Davies.  These two...your problems will be problems until you act on them...now get started and course correct as you go.  Just start.  

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Pick three things you/your family are going to commit to making a start on.  New diet, cooking at home, reading to kids, walking around the block, whatever it is...have one start each week for the next month. 
• 1 - ___________________ 
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) for starting.  This doesn't have to be a massive, life-changing action...but what "start" are you going to do this week?

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- Steve Harvey - Just Start

- Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen - just getting started allows you, paradoxically to quit on your terms.