Progressive Insurance Announcer (0:01)

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial Geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

Gretchen Rubin (0:35)

As a business owner myself, I know that owning a business means long days and lots of hard work. You need to be able to adapt to new challenges as they pop up, and you certainly need the right technology to help you do that. Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all sizes connected seamlessly with Internet, advanced WI fi, flexible phone, TV and mobile services. Spectrum Business has tailored connectivity solutions and packages built for your business's budget. No contracts, no added fees and right now, business owners can get free Business Internet Advantage forever when you add four or more mobile lines. Visit spectrum.com freeforlife to learn how you can get Business Internet Free Forever restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas.

Podcast Co-host or Guest (1:27)

Lemonade.

Gretchen Rubin (1:37)

Hello, I'm Gretchen Rubin and welcome to Move Happier, a special bonus episode of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin Podcast. It's part of the move 26 and 26 challenge which is built around a simple idea. Move for 26 minutes every day in 2026. To support the challenge each month I'm releasing a bonus episode designed to pair with your 26 minutes of daily movement. You can listen while you walk, run, stretch, organize or move in whatever way works for you. For this first bonus episode, I am sharing something exciting. You'll hear the first chapter of my brand new Audible Original audiobook, Get It Done. How to complete your dream project this project was produced by Ill Media. I wrote this book because I kept hearing the same question again and again. Why is it so hard to finish big projects, even the ones we care deeply about? Could be a project like launching a business, writing a book, renovating a home, planning a major event. In this seven chapter audiobook, I share practical tips and tools backed by behavioral science to help you finally move forward and get your dream project done. And because finishing looks different for different people. The audiobook is accompanied by a downloadable PDF workbook with step by step worksheets to help you create a plan that works for you. Get It Done is an Audible Original available exclusively on Audible and it's included in the plus catalog for Premium and Plus members. Audible membership is $14.95 per month after 30 days, with the flexibility to cancel anytime. You can find the full audiobook and the workbook@audible.com getitdone In a moment, you'll hear chapter one this first chapter is about finding clarity and taking your very first step, because starting is often the hardest part. So settle in or keep moving. Here's the beginning of my Audible original audiobook. Get It Done. Chapter 1 Find clarity and take your first step for years, I had wanted to try to experiment with creating art. It seemed like something that would satisfy a yearning I felt for elements that were missing from my life as a writer. I spend my days working with words black text on a white page. But I have a deep love of color. I've always wanted to find ways to play with it, to use my hands to create. Watercolor sounded like the perfect fit at the start of every year in January, I make a list of things I want to accomplish that year. And just for fun, I tie the number of items on my list to the year. So, for instance, in 2022, I'd made a list of 22 things I wanted to do in 2022. These lists have included items such as host monthly dinner parties, catch up on photo albums, take a family trip to Japan, and plan a gathering of podcasters. At various points throughout the year, I review that list and check off the things I accomplish for several years. Learn to Watercolor has appeared on my list, but year after year it has remained unticked. It's not that I haven't tried. In 2023, I took an online class, but it was my daughter Eleanor's senior year of high school, and life was just too wild. I didn't make it all the way through the class. Then I tried again. In 2024, I signed up for a watercolor class with two friends. I told myself, terrific. By signing up for the class, I'm setting aside the time to learn so nothing will interfere. I was confident that this year, when December rolled around, I'd be able to tick Learn to Watercolor off my list. On the first day of class, I texted my friends, let's meet outside 10 minutes early so we can get good seats. As I walked the 10 blocks to class, the supplies, which I'd purchased weeks in advance, made a satisfying weight in my tote bag. I was ready. Ready for knowledge and ready for color. Yes, I thought, this time is different. This year I'm really going to achieve the mastery I crave in watercolor. But within a few minutes of our teacher's appearance, my optimism waned. I like to learn systematically by starting with the basics and then adding more complexity. I like definitions, explanations, pros and cons. I like demonstrations and exercises. But this teacher had a very different approach. She wanted us to begin by doing so. While I wanted to learn about the names of the various types of brushes, the differences between tubes and pans, and how to do the wet on wet technique, she wanted us just to get started. Some of my fellow students welcomed her dive right in approach, but it wasn't a good fit for orderly and methodical me. As we left class that first day, my friends turned to me with big smiles. That was so much fun, they said. But I couldn't hide my disappointment. At the end of day one, I hadn't learned any of the material I'd wanted to learn. And weeks later, after the course ended, I still felt like I'd made almost no progress in mastering the knowledge and skills I wanted to gain. I felt discouraged. I'd spent time, money and effort committing to that watercolor class, and I still didn't know how to watercolor. And so I gave up. At the end of 2024, I reviewed my list and once again learned watercolor was left unfinished. I was stuck. The prospect of trying again felt daunting. I imagined learned watercolor carrying over from my 26 for 26 list to my 27 for 27 list to my 28 for 28 list. How quickly it happens, something we really do want to do all of a sudden feels like drudgery. So if I have any hope of learning to watercolor, I need to change my approach. Instead of trying to develop a watercolor habit, I'm going to set out to do a watercolor project. A finite and completable assignment. So now I am getting back on the proverbial watercolor horse and completing a big project right alongside you. After my failed watercolor endeavors, I knew in the back of my mind that I still wanted to learn to watercolor. To let go of my discouraging experience and start again. But I found myself wondering about the most auspicious date to start. The first day of the week, or the month, or the year, or my birthday, or the summer. I fantasize about what I'd be like in the future. Future Gretchen will spontaneously pick up a paintbrush with no planning and no effort necessary. But there is no future Gretchen. Only now Gretchen. For some reason, now is never a good time because won't things be easier for some not quite specified in the future? And Maybe it's true that you have a lot going on right now. You may be busy taking care of a sick family member. You may be starting a new job, or maybe you have a new puppy. But usually if there's something getting in the way today, something will get in the way tomorrow. You might need to plan your work strategically, or you might need to make some temporary sacrifices. More on that later. But as the old proverb says, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now. So this is my challenge for you. If you want to do this project, do it at the most unpopular time of all. Now. A few years ago, a friend and I went for a walk in Central park, and she described a situation that was making her feel both puzzled and and irritated. She had a great idea for a newsletter, and she knew that having a newsletter would be a smart move for her, both creatively and professionally. She promised herself that she'd launch it by the end of the year. But time was passing, she was watching the days slip by, and still she hadn't taken any steps towards starting her newsletter. Tell me, she said with frustration, how do I get motivated to start my newsletter? Motivation. People throw that word around a lot. But as for me, I don't like the word. I try not to use it at all. Because what exactly is it? Motivation is confusing, and people use the word in different ways. Some people say they're motivated when they want to achieve a certain outcome. I am motivated to write a book. Others use motivation to explain their actions. I am writing a book because I'm highly motivated to express my creativity. Many people claim to be highly motivated, yet they aren't taking any actionable steps to achieve their aim. So are they motivated or not? The problem comes when people assume that if they just felt motivated enough, their actions would follow. As a result, people whip themselves into a frenzy of thinking that if they just want an outcome enough, surely that desire will drive their behavior. And sadly, that rarely happens. One of my secrets of adulthood is don't expect to be motivated by motivation. Instead, strive for clarity. Clarity on what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you're going to do it. Consider this 2009 study on voter turnout. In the run up to the midterm primaries, researchers called registered voters to encourage them to vote. On some calls, researchers gave the standard encouragement. This is your civic duty. You have a voice. Every vote counts. On the other calls, the researchers focused on the particulars. What is your voting plan? Where are you going to vote? What time? What will you be doing just before you go vote? When looking at voters who were the only registered voter in their household, those who had expressed a clear plan for exactly how they would get into the booth on voting day were 9% more likely to follow through. This study illustrates a key principle I've seen time and time again. People might think they need motivation when all they really need is clarity. We often lack clarity when we begin big projects. We set out to do things which are vague, ill defined, and overly broad. And these ill defined projects are full of booby traps for discouragement. For example, you may want to switch to a successful career or learn Italian, but these aims are not specific. What does it mean to be successful in another career? How will you know when you've learned Italian? These aims seem far away, unreachable. Sometimes the mere perception of unattainability is all we need to excuse ourselves into staying stuck. Additionally, aiming toward vague outcomes can be unhelpful because it's difficult to measure whether we are or we are not actually making progress. Take, for example, my watercoloring. I should have known better than to write. Learn to watercolor on my list. Learned a watercolor isn't specific. Where exactly is the finish line? How would I know when I arrived there? Would I know how to watercolor after 1? Class 2? Or after watercoloring every day for a year? Without being able to measure progress, it's easy to become discouraged. Another common pitfall is working toward an outcome beyond our control. I once spoke to a writer who said, in 18 months from now my novel will be published, and my aim is to make it a bestseller. You can control whether you write a novel, I pointed out to him, but you can't control whether or not people will buy your novel. We must ask ourselves what is within our power to achieve. Of course, sometimes we want to set ourselves an ambitious goal, such as, I want to sign up 100 customers for my E course, I want to grow my subscriber base by 15%, or I want to sign with an agent for my memoir. It's great to set these targets, but to get something done, we need to focus on the practical actions that will allow us to make progress toward those goals. Dolly Parton once observed, I've always been a dreamer, and dreams are special things. But dreams are of no value if they're not equipped with wings and feet and and hands. If you're going to make a dream come true, you got to work it. You can't just sit around. That's A wish that's not a dream. In order to have clarity around your project, it's important to define carefully what you're setting out to do. What is your project? Choose something specific, something measurable, and something controllable. Rather than learn Italian, you could become conversational in Italian by my trip to Italy next summer, rather than make my novel a bestseller, you could spend 30 minutes every day learning how to market a novel and doing it. If I want to learn to watercolor, I need to change my aim and I need to articulate exactly what the finish line looks like. So rather than learn to watercolor, I will embark on a finite and completable project, A Year of Watercolor. This year I will watercolor every day, and each month I will paint a postcard to mail to a friend or family member. After gaining clarity on what we're doing, we next need to become clear on how we're going to achieve it. What specific actions will we take on a day to day basis that will build and build and build until we've completed our projects? To become conversational in Italian before your trip to Italy next summer, you may need to first buy an Italian textbook. Then you'll Practice Italian for 20 minutes every day on a language app. You'll listen to one Italian podcast each week. You'll sign up for an online platform which meets to practice conversing once per week. When you're deciding how to break your project down into actions, it's absolutely essential to be realistic. Outline actions that are manageable for you in your life right now. A listener to the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast emailed me to describe her challenge. An admitted pack rat, she wanted to tackle the clutter that had accumulated in her large suburban house from basement to attic to garage to pantry. She'd vowed that she'd get the house cleared over the summer months, but in fact, the summer was almost over and she'd made no progress at all. She felt so overwhelmed by the amount of work that had to be done that she never started. Be clear and realistic about what you're asking of yourself, I responded. Try clearing clutter for just 40 minutes a day, or tackle one cabinet or shelf at a time. Keep the chore so manageable that you feel capable of doing it. Anthony Trollope once wrote, a small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the efforts of a spasmodic Hercules. While it's good to challenge yourself, there's no sense in setting overly ambitious goals that just end up leading to failure. Setting unmanageable actions that you Consistently don't execute will lead to frustration and ultimately might keep you stuck when breaking your project down into steps, it's also important to choose precise and measurable actions. Saying I'm going to spend time every day trying to get a new job will be unhelpful. It's too unspecific. How much time will you spend? What constitutes trying to get a new job? When we're vague about our actions, we have to take the time to guess if we've sufficiently done them. And there's a funny aspect of human psychology. When we guess how well we've done, we're often wildly inaccurate. We tend to flatter ourselves. We may estimate that we spent one hour applying to jobs, when in fact we only spent 20 minutes at the computer. Instead, we should aim to be specific. We can say I will research and apply for job opportunities 30 minutes each day, or I will apply to two jobs every week. All of a sudden, very little mental effort is required to answer the question, did I do it? We either didn't or we did, and we can check it off our list. Which leads me to Benjamin Franklin. Ben Franklin is one of the patron saints of self improvement and productivity. Not only was he one of the founding fathers of the United States, he he also invented the lightning rod, founded a university, organized a fire department, and was a best selling author. As he describes in his autobiography, he regularly scored himself in various categories. He called it his virtue chart. It was a list of 13 virtues he wanted to practice in daily temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. At the end of each day, he'd score himself on whether he had adequately practiced those virtues. He describes it as a bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. While I've never specifically aimed for moral perfection, I can certainly attest to the wisdom of Franklin's virtue chart. What he is demonstrating is what I call the strategy of monitoring. Monitoring is any method of tracking behavior. It could be ticking off items on a list like my annual bucket lists, or it could be logging tasks in an app or crossing off days on a calendar when you perform a certain task. Monitoring has an almost uncanny power in itself. It doesn't require us to change our behavior, yet it often leads to change anyway. Research shows that we try a little harder when we are monitoring ourselves, or if we believe we are being monitored by someone else. The mere act of wearing a pedometer leads to more walking. Keeping a food journal is associated with healthier eating behavior. Children who believed their toothpaste use was being monitored brushed more often. Why does this work? Because by self monitoring, we stay self aware of our actions in the moment. Monitoring helps us make decisions that align with the goals that we set for ourselves. So not only should we dictate measurable actions, and we should also create a plan to monitor them. Let's go back to that earlier example. Applying for jobs. What might it look like if your stated actions are unmeasurable and unmonitored? You might open your computer, spend a few minutes browsing the job boards. Eight minutes in, your attention wanders. You click over to your email and refresh. You open a new tab and scan the news or worse, social media. You go back to the job boards for a bit. You find one you'd like to apply to, and you begin to make some edits to your resume. A few minutes later, your phone buzzes. A friend is texting. You think, well, that's enough for the day. I did my action right now imagine you had dictated a measurable action. I will research and apply for jobs. 30 minutes each day and you perform self monitoring. You open your computer just like last time. A few minutes in, you get distracted. But as you're going to open a new tab to read the news, you think, you know what, I only have to do this for 30 minutes. Let me do it properly. You don't allow yourself to get distracted. You find two jobs you'd like to apply for, you make appropriate edits to your resume, and you draft one cover letter. You your friend sends you a text and you look at the clock. Just 10 more minutes. I'll text back when I'm done. The 30 minutes elapses and you close your computer in your planner next to the line. Research and apply for jobs 30 minutes each day. You tick the box. Once you've gained clarity on what you're doing, your project, on how you're doing it, your measurable actions, and how you'll monitor your actions. You'll need to gain clarity on why you're doing might not seem like an essential step, but gaining clarity on your reason for doing your project can be the key to getting your project done. Take, for example, the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo was challenged by the project, by his difficult relationship with the Pope, by his inexperience of working in the fresco medium, by his physical discomfort. But one aspect of the project never wavered his relationship with his own faith. Michelangelo was extremely devout, but he was living in a time where the Catholic Church had become powerful, political, and at times corrupt, Michelangelo thought that religion should go back to its roots. He believed that by painting the chapel ceiling, he had the opportunity to influence anyone who walked through its doors. If he did his job right, his work could be biblia pauperum, the Bible for those who couldn't read. Throughout the project, when pain plagued him, or when circumstances annoyed him, Michelangelo returned to the meaning of his work, to his values. Research also supports the idea that an awareness of purpose can dramatically increase productivity. In 2007, organizational psychologist Adam Grant conducted a study at a call center at the University of Michigan. The call center employees were responsible for cold calling alumni to raise funds for student scholarships. The researchers arranged for some of the employees to actually meet and interact with students who had received scholarships in the past. The meetings were short only five minutes, but during those conversations, the call center employees were face to face with the very people who directly benefited from their work. They could hear about the students studies, about how the money made a difference in their lives. After those meetings, the group who had met the students saw a remarkable uptick in their performance. They logged twice as many minutes on the phone and fundraised nearly three times as much money to stay on track. It's important to have clarity in your purpose for doing your project. You may not have an obvious embodiment for your why, like the scholarship recipients for you. Finding purpose in your project might take some reflection, but you can find purpose in every project. After all, there must be a good reason to do it, otherwise you'd have no desire to pursue it. So take the time to really get to the bottom of why you're doing your big project. And once you have your answer, go deeper to uncover the elements that you really want to bring into your life. Don't settle for easy answers, such as because everyone keeps saying I should get a better job, or I always told myself that one day I'd learn to surf, or My wife keeps telling me we should get the yard fixed up. What are your reasons now for pursuing this project? What will this accomplishment mean to you? If you don't have sufficient reasons, you will probably have trouble succeeding, and you may not even care that you're not succeeding. The fact is, there's no reason to spend your precious time, energy, and money on an aim that doesn't really hold much significance to you. It's additionally important to identify the values that drive us, because sometimes we experience a conflict in values, and that conflict can keep us stuck. That might sound like I want to work on my novel, but I want to exercise. I want to give 110% to my work, but I want to give 110% to my family. I want time alone to work on my personal project, but I want to be accessible to other people. I want to learn to watercolor, but I want more time to read. Attention and values like this can lead to paralysis. So what do we do if we're stuck there? If you've identified a conflict in values associated with your project, the next step is to reconcile the conflicting values in order to clarify what you're actually trying to achieve right now. When a choice needs to be made, we have to decide, which value am I going to serve in this moment? Imagine you're writing a screenplay, and you need solid chunks of time in order to get deep, focused work done. At the same time, it's also a value of yours to be responsive to others. Invariably, people reach out to you during your scheduled, focused work time. A colleague wants a quick meeting or a mentee needs advice. And inevitably, you respond to whomever is asking for your attention because, hey, I want to be accessible to other people. As a result, you spend less and less time working. Your momentum stalls, and you become stuck. How might you work through that conflict? We'll start by digging deeper on why you want to write the screenplay in the first place. You want to challenge yourself. You want to struggle with a complex creative puzzle and solve it. You want to grow. You realize that the act of writing a screenplay, developing the characters, struggling with the structure, inventing the backstories, will culminate in valuable experience. In order to preserve that process, you need to set aside time. When you're not available to others. You acknowledge to yourself that you can be accessible to others without being 100% accessible at all times. Contradictions and values can show up in other ways, too. Sometimes we haven't really stopped to articulate why we're doing a big project, and our minds fill in the blanks in troubling ways. Ways like, I'm writing the screenplay because it will impress people, or doing this will prove that I'm good enough. These whys are precarious because too much depends on success. If things don't go exactly according to plan, you get lukewarm feedback on an early draft, or you get a rejection letter. Then all of a sudden you think, what will those people think of me? Or I'm not good enough. Before we know it, those patterns in thinking can sweep us into a downward spiral, which can keep us stuck or worse, lead us to quit altogether. I call this a conflict of values. Because, of course, one single successful screenplay can't possibly prove that you're good enough, just as a failed screenplay can't prove that someone isn't. And deep down, there's likely another reason why you've set out to do this project. So ask yourself what really interests you about your thesis subject? How do you feel when you learn new skills? Why does connecting with other cultures through their languages matter to you? What would it feel like to get back into playing the guitar regularly? What meaning can you find in your big project? Maybe you want to finally plant that garden because being in nature grounds you, makes you feel more serene and present. Or maybe you want to have a natural space in your backyard to help spark your imagination. Or maybe a garden will provide an activity that will bring you closer to others by helping you to meet new people and connect with family and friends who enjoy gardening. Or maybe you've always wanted to learn about plants. We all have our own individual reasons for why we want to get unstuck. As for me, why do I want to watercolor? I want to learn to use my hands to create. As George Orwell observed, cease to use your hands and you have lopped off a huge chunk of your consciousness. I want to experiment with the beauty and mystery of color. I want to feel mastery of a new set of artistic tools because I spend my days immersed in words and either reading or writing. I want to cultivate an activity that takes me outside of words. I want a skill that will help me see the world in a new way. I want an excuse for adventures such as traveling or taking classes. Most of all, I want an atmosphere of growth in my life. I want to feel myself stretching, learning, failing, persevering, and growing. A while back, I talked to someone who really wanted to manage her photos. She had 10 years worth of photos in her phone, and she wanted to make them into physical albums. She knew how to use the technology to accomplish this task, but nevertheless she wasn't making progress. My plan is to get up early and work on these albums between 6 and 7am she told me. But day after day I end up sleeping through that time. What time do you turn out the light? I asked. I go to sleep around midnight. I put the kids to bed. Then I watch TV for a couple of hours. That may sound late, she hurried to add, but really, I'm wide awake until then. My sister Elizabeth calls me a happiness bully because if I have an idea for something someone can do that I think will make them happier, I can sometimes become quite insistent. And with that woman's comment, my happiness bully side came out. You're probably just too exhausted to get up so early. I said. I bet you feel wide awake at midnight because you're watching some great TV show. Do something else at night like read a book and I predict you'll get sleepy hours earlier and then it will be easier to wake up at 6am she tried it and it worked. She got more sleep, she felt more energetic and and she was able to wake up at 6am every day to work on her photo project until she finished it. Frequently we get stuck because we're so exhausted that we simply don't have the mental and physical energy required to work on our project or even think about it. Our physical experience will always color our emotional and mental experience. So as a fundamental step if you're embarking on a big project, it's crucial to take care of your body so you have the energy to do all the things you want to do. Set yourself up for success by creating a strong foundation for energy. For one thing, it's crucial to get enough sleep in busy periods. We may be tempted to cut our sleep short in order to work on our projects. Many people claim that I'm one of those people who only needs four hours of sleep per night, but in fact, research shows that that's probably not true. Very few people are true short sleepers. You may not feel sleepy simply because you've become accustomed to less sleep and you don't realize how much that lack of sleep is weighing on you. Most adults need a minimum of seven hours each night. Partial sleep deprivation, or sleeping four to six hours per night has very real effects over the long term. It weakens the immune system, slows metabolism, and impairs memory and cognitive function. So figure out what time you need to turn out the light to get enough sleep and stick to that bedtime. Along the same lines, be sure to move your body. Research shows that people who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, and sleep better. They perform better at work. And the good news is that we don't need to exercise at an intense level or for a long time to get the benefits. Even a 20 minute walk every day boosts our focus, mood and energy level. So as you prepare to enter into the season of working on your project, when you'll be asking yourself to do more and think more, it's essential that you take care of your body. Go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Get some exercise. Don't let yourself get too hungry or fill up on unhealthy snacks. Try to expose yourself to morning light, which will help to keep your body clock running efficiently. And here's a fun hack Studies show that the mere act of skipping yes, skipping can drastically increase energy levels. We often think we act because of the way we feel, but in fact we feel because of the way we act. Acting sluggish makes us feel sluggish, and acting energized makes us feel energized. So if you need a quick energy boost, have a little Skip or do 10 jumping jacks or run down a set of stairs. When we're particularly busy with projects or work, we may search our days for ways to conserve the energy we need to tackle our to do lists. Perhaps we stay up late to get caught up on our work email, or we skip our daily walk or gym sessions. And while these actions are meant to save energy, behaving this way will often have the opposite effect. We may feel even less energized, especially if we make these choices repeatedly. Remember to care for your body so you have the physical energy and focus you need to take action the idea of doing a big project can be daunting before you start Writing a novel is a faraway goal. When you haven't typed your first sentence, becoming conversant in Italian feels like a massive endeavor before you've learned your first word. But the great thing about first steps is this. You only have to start once. The first step is daunting, but once you take it, it's done. After that, every step you take gets you closer to your goal. You're already on the path, so we're going to take the first step now. Attached to this chapter, you'll find your dream project workbook. To open it, go to the three dots in the upper right hand corner and click on accompanying PDF that will open the workbook, which you can read on your phone or you can also download and print it out. For Android users, the accompanying PDF will be opened on a PDF viewer. This workbook is filled with worksheets and prompts which will guide you through the process of building a bespoke plan to get your project done done. We're going to take some time now to get everything you've learned in this first chapter and tailor it for your project. I invite you to take a moment to hit pause and print out the workbook, or feel free to grab a blank journal and copy the prompts into your notebook. What is my project? Remember, your big project should be specific and completable. Don't write down Learn to cook because that's vague and difficult to measure. Instead, write down learn to cook 10 healthy, easy dinner meals. In addition, make sure your project is controllable. Don't say, become an expert guitar player because you can't control whether or not your skills will ever qualify you as an expert. Instead, say, spend 30 minutes each day playing the guitar. My project is a year of watercolor. I will watercolor every day for one year, and once a month I will paint a postcard to mail to a friend or family member. Here are some other examples. Write a screenplay. Plant a garden. Plan a family reunion for next year. Get the house ready for sale within 12 months. Number two what does my completed project look like? This might not be necessary for all projects, but if it's appropriate, write down an expanded list of what specifically needs to be done for you to say job well done. For instance, for the garden to be done, it should have the underbrush cleared, raised planters with an irrigation system, perennial flowers and herbs planted, and so on. Or for the house to be ready for sale. The garage should be emptied, clutter cleared, repairs made, staging done, photos taken. For me, my completed project looks like this. I have mastered the different kinds of paper and brushes and can identify what works best for me. I have experimented with tubes and pans and have decided which I like better. I learned a variety of water and brush techniques. I have become comfortable with sketching. Number three how will I complete my project? Write down the actions that you will take in order to achieve your outcome. Remember, your actions should be specific and measurable. For me, I will practice watercoloring every single day for a year. Once a week, I will visit the Metropolitan Museum and sit down on a bench somewhere and sketch the scene before me. I will register for at least one in person watercolor workshop this year I will take online video courses, both paid and unpaid. You can also write down actions you won't take. For example, I will not buy any new supplies for the first two months of the year. I love buying art supplies and I want to make sure my buying doesn't exceed my painting. Now, if you're doing something you've never done before, it's very possible that you might not know what actions need to be taken to get you to your outcome. That's okay. Even if you aren't sure, you can still take the first step. If you don't know how to tackle your project, I suggest that you write this down. Seek out someone who has done this before and ask them for advice. Now. Use the rest of the lines to write. Your very best guess for actions you should take. They don't need to be correct. You can always revise later on. Take the next minute to write down your specific and measurable actions. How will I monitor my progress? Maybe you list all your actions on sticky notes and put them on a big board. And then as you accomplish each action, you can remove them. Maybe you hang a big calendar in your house and write an X across each day you sit down to write your novel. For me, doing something every day is the easiest way to monitor it. So I will be doing some form of watercoloring or learning about watercoloring every day for a year. I am also committing to sending a watercolor postcard every month for a year to someone I love. I'll know that if I mailed my card, I made progress toward my goal. Take a few moments to write down your monitoring strategy. Number five why am I doing this project? Remember to dig deep. Think about your values. Think about your connection to your subject matter. Think about your personal goals. For me, I want to learn to watercolor because I believe learning a new skill will give me a new occupation to enjoy for the rest of my life. It will allow me to see the world in a new, deeper way. It will allow me to revel in the joys of color. It will give me the feeling of growth and energy that comes from learning something new. It will lead me to new adventures and new relationships as I learn and practice my skills. It will give me a new aspect to my identity. Take all the time you need to write down your reasons why. Congratulations. You've just taken your first step. Don't worry if what you've written down isn't perfect, it doesn't need to be. In fact, a common form of procrastination is is over planning. The truth is, we learn best by doing. No amount of planning now will be more useful than the insights you gain along the way. As you move through the process of working on your project, you may come to the conclusion that something you've written down doesn't work for you. That's valuable information that will allow you to recalibrate your approach. As the old saying reminds us, don't get it perfect, get it going. My assignment for you is simply to begin. I want you to begin your project immediately, not next month or over the summer. Now you've decided what your big project is, how you will accomplish it, and why you're doing it. You've determined how you're going to monitor your actions, and most importantly, you've taken the first step. Next, we're going to look inward and learn how to understand our own nature in order to make sure we design a plan which suits our individual tendencies so that we can stick with our project and see it through to the end.