Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

Leo Babauta is a master at getting things done and not stressing out. I found his blog, Zen Habits a few years ago and there is a wealth of information on the blog. Recently Leo did a great post called “How to Start”. The post is about how to start a new habit in a simple way.

Previously Leo had written about Focus and about stopping procrastination and one reader had complained that while it was easy to read about things like focus, it was actually hard to put those actions into place.

Leo’s solution to getting going with a new task or habit is to simplify it and just to begin.

How do you start on a task when you’re procrastinating because it’s too hard? You make it super easy.

First, pick a task. Is that too hard? Randomly choose one, to make it easy on yourself.

If you’ve picked a task and it seems too hard to get started, make it even easier: just do one minute. If that’s too hard, just do 20 seconds. ~Leo Babauta

Sounds simple, right? And that is the whole point behind Leo’s blog, that you can make profound life changes in simple ways. My personal goal is to be a published author and I have been frozen in the act of revising the manuscript for the book I just completed. Leo has inspired me to take one small step towards my goal, not to think of revising the whole book, but rather of doing one positive thing for 20 seconds at least. I can do that, right?