If you are procrastinating, lower your standards.
When your juices are flowing, high standards push you to excel. But when your mojo runs dry, the push for excellence can push you away. Then you don’t start… you get distracted…and your resolve fades for another day.
By lowering your standards, you can sneak in a first step without alerting that fierce inner critic that stops you before you start. A single step, no matter how small, creates enough momentum that leads to the next.
It’s a twist on the cliche: “If you want to do something right, do it half-assed first.” To file your papers, leave the file drawer ajar. To exercise tomorrow, lay out your clothes tonight. To write a report, jot down 3 key points, however rough. By doing something halfway today, you create the tension that pulls you to complete it tomorrow.
This was the strategy of Scheherazade, the legendary Persian heroine. Each night the King planned to kill her the following morning. She survived the dawn only by starting to tell a story that was such a cliffhanger that the King insisted on hearing its ending the following night. Then she immediately started the next enticing tale . So it went for 1001 nights, when he finally made her Queen. Nice.
Start now, finish later. Repeat often.
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