It's frigid where I live in southwestern Virginia today. Monday and Tuesday have had below-freezing temperatures and even worse wind chill because of a huge cold front moving in. Fortunately, it's supposed to warm up a bit over the next few days. I'm not quite ready for this much winter. Autumn just got here!
I'm keeping it simple this week due to a perfect storm of activities and projects that have filled up my schedule. Today, I just want to pass along a helpful insight that I came across late last week from James Clear (the Atomic Habits guy):
"Motivation often increases after you begin. The lesson is not to wish you had more motivation, but to make starting as easy as possible."
Take a minute to re-read that if you let it go by quickly the first time.
This idea is exactly why I so strongly encourage taking little steps, focusing on exactly one small task, and celebrating when you get through it. Small wins are not only more achievable for us regardless of circumstances, but they also help us see that progress is possible and we really can accomplish things. The "impossible" project transforms from an overwhelming giant monster into a collection of little things that we can tackle one at a time--and we know we can, because we've already dome some of it.
Building motivation this way applies everywhere in life, not just to keeping on top of digital information and organization. But here are some ideas for how you might eliminate friction and "make starting as easy as possible" for yourself:
Email:
1.
One-minute rule: Promise yourself you’ll just clean email for one minute...not the whole inbox. Once you’re in, momentum takes over.
2.
Quick-action toolbar: Add "Archive," "Snooze," and "Unsubscribe" buttons to your mail view so each decision is one click away.
3.
Pinned mini-session: Pin a calendar event called “Email reset (5 min)” so the task feels bounded, not endless.
Photos:
1.
Delete-five ritual: Make a daily micro-goal of deleting just five photos. Low effort, instant progress.
2.
Favorites filter shortcut: Create a shortcut to “Unfavorited recent photos” so you start right where cleanup is needed.
3.
Automatic imports: Enable phone-to-cloud auto-sync so photos land in one known place, eliminating the "where do I begin?" friction.
Documents and Files:
1.
Staging folder: Create a "_To Sort" folder so you can just drag clutter there without deciding exactly where it belongs yet.
2.
Filename template: Keep an obvious naming convention like YYYY-MM-Topic so naming doesn’t require much thought each time.
3.
Favorite folders: Pin your top few work folders so you’re always one click from starting instead of hunting paths.
Notes and Ideas:
1.
Single-inbox note: Keep a note titled "Unsorted Thoughts" so you can dump ideas instantly without choosing where they go.
2.
Quick-capture widget: Add your notes app widget to your phone home screen to remove the open-app barrier.
3.
Daily template: Pre-create a blank "Today" note that auto-appears each morning. No setup needed before writing.
Tasks and Projects:
1.
Voice entry shortcut: Use your phone assistant or widget to add tasks verbally; bypass the friction of typing.
2.
Start with one verb: For any project, just write the next visible action ("email Bob," "rename file"), not the entire plan.
3.
Visual dashboard: Keep your to-do board open in a browser tab so the next click is "move one card," not "log in and load."
Calendars and Time:
1.
Recurring slot: Schedule a fixed "maintenance Monday" block so you never need to decide when to organize.
2.
Tiny calendar check: Make your morning routine include glancing at your calendar before coffee.
3.
Template events: Create saved events like "Deep Work," "Backup," etc., so you can add them with two clicks.
Money and Finances:
1.
Auto-imports: Connect your bank feeds once so new transactions appear automatically; no manual data entry barrier.
2.
Visible reward: Set your budgeting dashboard as your browser start page; motivation is baked into opening Chrome.
3.
Automatic daily snapshot email: Set your budgeting or bank app to send a short daily or weekly summary email.
These are just examples, but you get the idea; look for ways to make it easy to do the things you want to accomplish. It's like putting your running shoes on the floor right next to your bed so it's just that much simpler to take that morning run.
Find ways to make the hard things easier to start, even if they're not much easier to finish. If you never start, there's a zero percent chance you'll finish.
Until next week, happy data-taming!