Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Welcome to the Show
Up Society podcast, where I help
you get super clear on what youreally want so you can focus on
doing the things that reallymatter to you instead of getting
overwhelmed with all the extra.
I also hope you learn how to bekinder to yourself so you can
overcome perfectionism, peoplepleasing, and your inner critic.
I'm Life and Business CoachTammy Bennett, and I'm about to
(00:24):
help you show up for the lifeyou want to live.
Hello, hello, hello, friend.
Welcome back to the Show UpSociety Podcast.
Today's episode is a topic thatwas requested by some of my
newsletter readers, subscribers,and that was tips for how to
just get started.
This is something that I workwith my clients with all the
(00:45):
time.
At least every week, I'm workingwith one of my clients on how to
just get started doing thething.
So this is gonna be a really funand easy podcast.
I'm gonna give you five quicksteps to just get started.
Maybe a little bonus step hereor there, too, okay?
But first, I'll give you anupdate.
We made it across country.
It was a pretty smooth trip fromPortland, Oregon to Lehigh,
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Pennsylvania.
It's actually the town ofBethlehem.
And there we went to see ourdaughter run cross country for
Georgetown University, and herteam qualified for nationals.
So NCAA, Division I, National,Cross Country Championships are
coming up this weekend inMissouri.
Um, but that was really excitingfor her to um get to be on a
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team that qualified.
We made it to the race about twohours before the race.
So we planned our tripperfectly.
Um and it was really smoothsailing.
Our doggies really enjoyed it.
We enjoyed uh the silence andthe conversation, and it was all
great.
So now we are in the state ofNew Jersey for a little while.
We have a lot of upcoming busyfamily events.
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I'm sure I will keep you postedabout those.
Um, but just in case you werewondering from last episode, if
we made it across the countryand if we're still in one piece,
all is good.
And I'm so thankful for a goodsmooth trip.
Okay, let's talk about how toget started.
I get this question a lot.
So um this is gonna be like apre-step.
(02:15):
I'm not even counting this asone of the steps.
Sometimes you just have to turnoff your brain and just be a
machine and just do the thing.
Like, you know, Nike wasn'tkidding around when they said
just do it.
Sometimes that works.
I know that there have been manytimes in my past where I uh was
kind of putting off exercisingand finally I just got up like a
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machine without a heart or asoul or a brain, and I just put
on my running shoes and myworkout outfit, and I just went
outside and I did the thing.
So sometimes that's the key.
Turn off your brain, your heart,your soul, just be a shell of a
machine and get it done.
But let's say that's notworking.
You just cannot get yourself todo the thing.
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Now we're gonna get into my fivequick steps.
The first step is to think aboutwhy aren't you?
Why aren't you getting started?
And I actually want you to get apen and paper and write it down.
So here I'm gonna give you acouple of the really common
reasons why people don't getstarted.
It's too hard.
I don't know where to start,it's too big of a project, I
(03:19):
don't have time to do theproject.
I'm waiting on someone else orsome other piece of information.
I don't want to.
Those are probably the mostcommon, but there are lots of
other reasons why it might behard for you to get started.
I want you to write down on apen and paper why.
And you might have all of thosereasons.
You might have every one ofthose reasons that I listed.
Fine, write everything thatcomes to mind about why you
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aren't getting started, okay?
We're doing this part withoutshame, without blame.
We're not judging yourself forit, we're not beating yourself
up for it, we're just beingscientific observers of what is
going on in your head whenyou're not getting started,
okay?
So don't shame and blame.
We're just getting curious.
Huh, I wonder why I'm notgetting started.
What's going on in my headthat's keeping me from getting
(04:01):
started?
Okay, that's step one.
We're already on step two.
I want you to go through thatlist that you just wrote down
and you're just going todismantle each reason that you
just listed.
So, for example, let's say thatyou said it's too hard.
I'm not getting started becauseit's too hard.
Well, how can you make iteasier?
Write that down.
There's definitely some way thatyou can make it easier.
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I'll give you an example.
We are going to have a big mealtogether with family coming up.
Um, Thanksgiving, althoughthere's an asterisk beside that.
I know there are a lot ofproblems celebrating
Thanksgiving, but we are justgonna get together and have a
meal.
But my question, you know, wehave a lot going on with family,
different family, differentcultures, different politics.
Some people are sick and goingthrough illnesses, a lot of
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stuff going on.
So I said, how can we make thiseasier?
I know we can get it catered.
So we are getting our mealcatered.
We know somebody that just cameinto ownership of a deli and
they are doing catering forThanksgiving.
So it's a win-win.
It's easier for us.
We have the food prepared, andwe're also helping out a friend
and supporting their business.
That made it so much easier.
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Now nobody is dreading andstressing out about what we're
gonna make and if it's goodenough, and we have so many
people coming.
None of that.
It's going to be easier, okay?
Maybe one of the reasons thatyou wrote in step one for why
you're not getting started isyou don't know where to start.
So let's dismantle that.
Pick a tiny little step that youdo know how to do and give
yourself that tiny win.
So I'm sure that something inthere of all the steps that
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you're gonna have to take to dothis project, I'm sure one of
those you know how to do it.
Pick that one, give yourself aneasy win.
Maybe you want to pick thesmallest thing, the easiest
thing, the most fun thing, themost enjoyable thing.
Maybe you want to pick the thingthat you hate the least, right?
But you do know where to startactually.
Just pick somewhere and start.
Maybe in step one, the reasonwhy you wrote that you aren't
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getting started is because youhave no time.
Let me ask you something aboutthat.
Let's dismantle that thought.
First of all, you're probablysaying, I don't have time to do
the whole thing.
That's what my clients usuallysay to me.
I don't have time to do thewhole thing.
But guess what, friend?
We don't have to live in an allor nothing world, right?
Do you have time to do somethingon it?
Yeah, probably.
(06:10):
You probably have time to spendfive to seven minutes on that
task.
So we're gonna dismantle thatlimiting belief that you don't
have time.
And we're gonna remind yourselfyou don't have to do all of it,
but you do have time to get astart on it.
We're gonna get to that in aminute about what to do, but
just know that you do have timeto take a step towards
completion.
Okay.
So that was step two.
Dismantle the reason why you'renot getting started.
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Step three, I want you to get atimer and set it for seven or
fewer minutes.
None of this 25-minute PomodoroBS.
It's great for some people,doesn't work for brains like me
that want a lot morestimulation, kind of ADHD brain.
We want a lot of variety in whatwe're doing.
So for me, five to seven minutesis a really sweet spot of
getting started.
(06:52):
You also could just set yourtimer for one or three minutes,
okay?
We're not trying to do the wholething right now, we're just
trying to get started.
So step three is to set yourtimer for seven or fewer minutes
and then focus during that timeonly on the task.
You are not touching your phone,you are not answering an email,
you're not answering the door,you are not doing anything
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except for the task at handuntil that timer goes off.
Okay.
Now I'm gonna sneak a littlehalf step in here, step 3.5 if
you want.
And that is when the timer goesoff, you make your decision.
Either you're done for the day,or if you're in a flow and
you're like, oh, I'm actuallymaking some progress.
I feel really good, you want tokeep going.
But step three and a half iseither stop when the timer goes
(07:37):
off or you make a decision tokeep going if you're just kind
of feeling it, like, right?
Okay, so then step four iscelebrate it.
So if you decided to befinished, celebrate that you did
seven or fewer minutes ofsomething, right?
So you're gonna celebrate.
I worked on this project untilthe timer went off, right?
You're going to celebrate it.
I don't care if it was only oneminute, I want you to celebrate
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that you did something towardsthat project.
That's more than you were goingto do.
You were doing nothing towardsthis project, and now you've
done at least one minute towardsit.
I want you to celebrate it nomatter how many minutes you
spent on it.
You did something, you made somekind of progress.
So I want you to celebrate it.
Step five, I think, is a littlehelpful.
I got this tip from Jen Louden,who is a writing coach and an
author herself, and she likes toleave breadcrumbs for when you
(08:21):
work on it again.
So let's say the timer goes off,you decide to be done for the
day, you celebrate it, and nowyou're just gonna make a quick
little note, just one littlesentence or one little word on a
post-it to let yourself knowsort of where you are in terms
of that project so you know kindof what the next step is.
Because let's say you step awayfrom it, and let's say three
days go by and now it's time tocome work on the project again,
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and you can't remember whatyou've done or where you are or
what you're gonna do next.
Leaving that breadcrumb ahead oftime can make it really easy to
jump right back in becauseyou're not having to use any um
decision juice, deciding, okay,well, what am I gonna do?
I don't know where I was, Idon't know what's going on, how
should I get started again?
You have a post-it note saying,call so-and-so, or send email,
right?
You have your next step alreadyprescribed for you.
(09:04):
And I think it's really helpfulto do that when you're in the
flow of doing the activity.
So before you walk away fromjust getting started on this
activity, just leave yourself alittle breadcrumb about what's
next.
That's it.
That's how simple it is.
So I'm just gonna give you thesteps again, just for a recap.
Step zero is uh just getmechanical.
Turn off your brain, your heart,your soul, just go do the thing.
(09:26):
If that doesn't work, then let'sgo to our five steps.
Step number one, write down allthe reasons why you're not
getting started without shame,without blame, without judgment.
Don't trash talk yourself orjust being curious.
Step two, dismantle the reasonthat you listed.
Okay, we're gonna turn thosethoughts kind of opposite.
We're gonna figure out how todismantle them, take away their
power, show that they're nottrue.
(09:47):
Step three, set a timer forseven or fewer minutes and focus
on nothing else in the worldother than the task at hand.
Step three and a half, continueif you want to, but also you can
be done when the timer goes off.
It's up to you, depending on howyou're feeling.
Step four, celebrate it.
No matter how many minutes youworked on it, celebrate that
you'd made some progress.
(10:09):
And finally, step number five,write down the next step for
when you come back to theproject.
Leave a little breadcrumb foryourself so you know exactly
what you're gonna do next.
And that's it, friend.
It can be that simple to justget started.
Usually getting started is thehardest part.
Once you're getting once youhave started, it's so much
easier, right?
It's so much easier to keep themomentum and the flow,
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especially if you're celebratingyourself along the way.
So that's all I have for youtoday, friend.
Thank you so much for showing upto this episode of the Show Up
Society podcast.
Now go out there and show up foryourself.
Hey friend, if you liked thispodcast episode and you want
help applying it to your life soyou can do more of what you want
and feel good while doing it,you're gonna love working with
(10:51):
me one-on-one for six months.
I'll help you with strategy andmindset so you can figure out
what you want, make an actionplan, and I'll help you get
unstuck all along the way.
Go to showupsociety.com forwardslash coaching to set up a
consultation to see if we are agood fit for each other.
(11:12):
Oh hey, loyal podcast listener.
Thank you for being here all theway through to the end.
Okay, here's your secret missionfor today.
Go find me on Instagram at ShowUp Society, find the post that
corresponds to this podcastepisode, and I want you to leave
me a comment, uh, leave me anemoji of the number five, or
just leave me the number five.
That way I will know that you'velistened to this podcast, you
(11:35):
know the five easy steps to justget started.
And for a bonus, you can let meknow what project you got
started on after listening tothis podcast episode.
Because I want to celebrate thatyou went out there and you did
something towards the project,okay?
That will be our secret messageto each other.
Love you so much, and thank youfor being here.