It all starts with making your bed

RECENTLY my client was stressing out about her 2017 tax records and having to have everything in on time. She declared how disorganised she was due to being so busy and was embarrassed about it. What would her accountant think of her? She didn’t know where to start. My advice to her was to make her bed.

Unfortunately in this world, more things are said than done and while people have many good intentions and many good objectives, they don’t know where to start. My advice is to start with the small stuff and do that well.

Making your bed is symbolic of doing something simple and easy that will make us feel good for the day and encourage us to do more complex and challenging things. Do the little things well, as they all add up to big things – but big things in your life won’t be achieved until you are good at doing the little things. Energy creates momentum, momentum creates action, and action creates results – and action is the stuff of well-being.

For many of us the initial challenge is to create that energy, to take that first step along the journey that will take us up along the path to our destination.

Yet taking that first step – doing the little things – is extremely daunting for some people. Many of us over-think it – to the extent we are unable to take that critical first step.

Over-thinking leads to anxiety, depression and sometimes even death. Stop thinking and just do. I have a strategy that I get my clients and friends to practise. I call it my strategy of imperfect implementation – just do. In simple terms, it’s just about giving it a crack – whatever it is. The good thing about this strategy in life is that if the initial attempts fail, you can always give it another crack. There are, after all, very few things in this life that we can’t change or even if needed, start all over again.

It’s all about taking committed action but, as always, the challenge is where to start.

What is the little thing you should do first? Unfortunately, I can’t tell you, but you can. I think the power of gut feeling is underplayed and undervalued. Somehow, we have lost that sense of backing yourself – most probably through fear, anxiety and disappointment. So, trust your gut, back yourself, take one step, do it well and then take another step.

If by chance you don’t succeed, take a breath, go home and relax in your bed... which you made.