Just starting your article is half the battle (it really is)

Some things I’m hyper-motivated to do. I don’t procrastinate. I get it done immediately.

Other tasks can sometimes take me a couple of days or longer to start on.

But once I start, I get into it and finish the job.

It’s like going to the gym.

I often resist.

Eventually, I trudge on down to the gym in my office building.

I set up for the first set.

Bang it out.

From there on it’s easy-going. I finish my workout lickety-split.

What’s interesting is that what I’m motivated to tackle can change week-to-week.

Some weeks I’m on a content publishing mission and can’t wait to just get as much content out the door. The next week I’m not interested and fall back on the default schedule handled by writers and VAs.

Some weeks I’m on an internal linking mission and spend hours building internal links and/or sending instructions for the internal links. Other weeks, I don’t bother doing any.

And then some weeks I’m on a keyword research mission and can’t stop generating lists of topics. Other weeks I don’t spend 10 seconds on it because I don’t feel like it.

Tasks that motivate me come in waves.

I’ve learned to ride the waves.

At the same time I’ve come to learn that for many tasks, while I may not feel like doing them, once I start, I get into them and do a bang-up job.

Which means often “just starting” is half the battle.

My online content business involves a handful of tasks that must be done throughout the month. If they aren’t done, my business falters.

These aren’t optional.

While generally I enjoy them, not always am I motivated to do them.

I’m sure you can relate.

Which makes this racket a psychological challenge.

Months ago I wrote an email where the main point was “if in doubt as to what you should do next, write or order an article. If you do nothing but that on any given day, you can still chalk it up to a productive day.”

I still believe that.

This email is a result of just that.

I had a huge backlog of Fat Stacks emails I needed to get on the blog.

I’m great at doing 80% of something and crapping out on the last 20%.

I can write and schedule emails all day long but crap out on the final, tedious task of getting them on the blog.

And when a backlog builds, it becomes daunting.

And daunting causes procrastination.

When the backlog hit double digits, the thought of posting 10+ blog posts in a sitting was unfathomable. This was at the end of a busy day so I was running out of steam.

Faced with that tedious task and procrastinating, I fell to my default task of writing something.

This email is the result.

And as I got to this very sentence, it occurred to me that I don’t have to publish the entire backlog of emails on the blog all at once.

I can do one a day.

Bite-sized chunks is an ideal approach to anything. It sure beats doing nothing.

So that’s what I did.

I published just one.

I just got started.

One led to two which led to three.

That’s what happens when you just get started.

Things get done. They aren’t so bad. In fact, it feels good.

Jon Dykstra

Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.