Second Cup: Today is a good day for getting started

Why not seize the moment?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that getting started on pursuing a goal can
be hard, but once you have taken even a baby step,

(00:27):
sticking with your goal pursuit make it easier. So gently
invite yourself to start and watch your goal get rolling
from there. Today's tip comes from psychology professor Johanna pets
and the Character Lab newsletter. As Pete explains, it's often

(00:50):
harder to get started than to keep going on a task,
and the closer you get to achieving a goal, the
easier it gets. So you could argue that the hardest
part of reaching a goal is getting started. Given that,
she advises making it easier to begin your goal pursuit

(01:13):
by accepting even a small step as an adequate start.
She suggests telling yourself today is a good day for
getting started. That phrase, today is a good day for
getting started, and the freedom to take a small step
are very encouraging. There are times when setting ambitious goals

(01:38):
and flying out of the starting gate can be helpful,
but when your schedule or your spirits means a fast
start is not doable. Accepting and celebrating even little steps
can be a way of making some progress when you
might not begin at all if the first step seem daunting.
Maybe you need to prepare for a big moved, but

(02:01):
you can't bear to face packing up your closet, much
less the entire basement. Today is a good day for
getting started, and getting started might mean just procuring packing supplies,
or maybe even just some tape. Maybe you want to
get fit, even though you haven't exercise since your last

(02:22):
baby was born six years ago. Today is a good
day for getting started, perhaps by downloading the couch to
five k app or even just going for a ten
minute walk. Maybe you want to find a new job.
Today is a good day for getting started, so you
could decide to review your most recent resume and identify

(02:46):
content that you want to add when you update it.
Once you've taken that first step, you can continue to
encourage your progress with gentle invitations to take doable next steps.
As Pete suggests, you might say today is a good
day to get started on step two, but the point

(03:07):
is simply to do something today. If most things get
easier over time, than what you do today is helping
towards your bigger goals. As long as you choose to
do something today, you can choose to do something on
all the other today's. But no need to worry about

(03:27):
that just yet. Just knowing today is good is fine.
In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(03:50):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

(04:13):
out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I
look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.