Start anywhere

You don't have to start at the very beginning, even if it is a very good place to start.

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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 if you are working on something big,
just get going with whatever part you feel you can do.

(00:24):
We often start at the very beginning, because, in the
words of the famous song, that is a very good
place to start. But it is not the only place
to start. You can begin anywhere. Today's tip comes from
the field of design thinking, an approach that focuses on
developing ideas for possible solutions, testing them out, and refining

(00:49):
them based on what you learn. According to author Warren Berger,
begin anywhere as an important principle of design thinking. He
explains that the principle was borrowed from the composer John Cage,
who thought you could begin a musical composition anywhere within
the composition. In other words, you don't necessarily have to

(01:09):
compose the opening bars first. If you've got a good
idea for a musical moment in the middle, go ahead
and start there. You can figure out what's around it
based on what you have created. With big projects, in general,
almost any starting point will do. What you learn will

(01:29):
help you figure out what aspect of the work to
work on next. I definitely do this with my books.
If I am working on a chapter, I might not
know exactly how I plan to start the chapter, and
the opening might change in any case, but if I've
got a good example I know I'm going to include,
I can write that portion first. I don't always write

(01:53):
the chapters in order either. If I have all the
material for chapter five before I have the material for
chapter three, I can write chapter five first. That's fine.
It all needs to get written eventually, so best not
to sit around waiting for chapter three to pull itself together.

(02:15):
So it goes for many things. If you are overwhelmed
at the sight of your attic, just pick one box
figure out what to do with everything in it, or,
as some people have advised, grab a garbage bag and
start identifying things in your attic you know you could
throw away. You can begin anywhere. If you want to

(02:36):
start a blog, just write a post. It doesn't have
to be your introductory post or heaven forbid, your lifetime manifesto,
and you don't have to know what sections you want
on the site. Just start writing that first post, and
the one after that will help you figure out your purpose.
Your website, organization, and your voice. If you want to

(03:00):
cook more, make dinner tonight. Start with the rice you
know you're going to be making. No need a meal
planned for the week, or order a stack of cookbooks
or reorganize your pantry. That can come later. For now,
just cook a meal, see how it goes. Iterate from there.
Don't waste time feeling stuck or figuring out the very

(03:24):
beginning of something. Instead, dive in with what you know
you can do. Then, with what you learn from your experience,
you can adjust and refine your plans. You can keep
on going until you have taken your project to completion.

(03:44):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

(04:05):
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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