Where To Start?

-Devlyn Steele

So many fail because they don't get started - they don't go. They don't overcome inertia.

They don't begin.

-W. Clement Stone

You avoid getting your mail and when you finally go to the overstuffed mail box it is filled with local supermarket ads, newspapers, coupons, credit card offers, and bills. You take a quick glance through, hoping for something of a personal nature, and then you sigh; nothing but junk mail and bills. You go back inside and dump the mail onto the ever growing stack on the corner of your kitchen counter and say to yourself, "I'll go through it all later." Even as the words leave your mouth you know that it is not true.

You are overwhelmed. You feel powerless and don't know how or where to start. After all, what can you do? You can't make things change. You have no power.

Anxiety is turning your stomach and making you feel empty inside, so you open the fridge looking for something. You're not really hungry but you feel like you need to get something inside you to feel better. You don't see anything you want, so you open the freezer and take out the chocolate ice cream. You know you shouldn't; after all, you're trying to lose weight. You put those thoughts aside and tell yourself that just one time won't make a difference. You tell yourself that you need this and deserve to treat yourself well. You dig your spoon in and while you put the first bite in your mouth you tell yourself that you'll start eating better tomorrow.  You say, "I'll go for a walk to make up for it later."

Once again, as the words leave your mouth you know that it's not true. It's not really your fault this time. You have tried every diet program, every workout routine, and every other way you could think of in order to lose weight and it has never worked. You are overwhelmed. You feel powerless and don't know how or where to start. After all, what can you do? You can't make things change. You have no power.

Later that day, you are out and find yourself inside a store. Even though you don't know why, you feel like buying something. You don't really need anything but there you are, looking around. As you stand at the register and pull out your credit card you flashback to that pile of unopened mail. You shrug your shoulders and say to yourself, "this one charge won't make a difference."

After all where do you start?

Where do you start? You start right there.

You start by opening and handling one envelope.

You start by returning one call.

You start with putting down the ice cream instead of taking that next bite.

You start by walking away from the register.

You start by filling out that application for a job or school.

You start by writing your resume.

You start by turning off the TV and having a conversation with your relationship partner.

You start by putting that glass down.

You start by putting that cigarette out.

You start by changing your thinking from,

"it doesn't make a difference," to "it makes a difference."

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

-Plato

You start by deciding that you have power and that what you do counts.

It's really not that complicated. Where do you start?

You start right where you are. Not tomorrow, not later, but right now.

With one action. A single, positive action and then things improve, positive action after positive action. Otherwise, things stay the same or get even worse, inaction after inaction.

In our minds, we make things out to be bigger than they are by looking at the pile of mail as a whole, by thinking of all the weight we need to lose, the sum of our debts, and all the difficulties in our relationships. We make it out to be enormous. The truth is that no matter how much big the stack of mail, whether there is a single envelope or whether there are a thousand, you can only open one at a time. You can only have one conversation, return one call, or fill out one application. You can only ever do one thing at a time.

Stop looking at the entire pile and letting it make you feel powerless. You start with one action. That is where you start making a difference. That is how change starts.

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

-Lao Tzu

Where to Start?

Start today with one action!