Use Tiny Task to Start a Project and Build Momentum

Does it take extra effort to get started on projects? Like, if you want to send an email, write an essay, or draft a story, does that linger on your to do list for days, and then the days stretch into weeks?

The Tiny Task method may be what you want.

If you’ve ever heard the aphorism, “Well begun is halfway done,” then you know why Tiny Task will help.

The greatest obstacle to completing projects is started them.

Before you start, it’s all a vague notion of challenges in your path waiting to be conquered. You don’t know how much you don’t know, so it could be even worse than you imagine, and maybe you won’t be able to solve all the problems, or they’ll take too long, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Just like that, you’ve talked yourself into quitting before beginning.

If you’ve read this far, you know you’re susceptible to the problem, and I won’t belabor the point. Here’s the solution:

To complete any project, or solve any problem, think of one step that may bring you a little closer to completion and do it. Once more in case you missed it:

If you thought I was going to suggest the next step was to simply take another step, you’d be wrong. The way forward with Tiny Task is, in fact, another small step, but don’t take it right away. Instead, I want you to take a breath and consider the step just taken.

Allow me to use a joke from Gilligan’s Island to illustrate.

There was a dream sequence in an episode of Gilligan’s Island, and in the dream, the professor is Sherlock Holmes and the Skipper is the trusted sidekick Watson. Watson explains to Gilligan that he and Holmes have just walked across the ocean.

“Really?” Gilligan asks. “How do you walk across the ocean?”

Watson replies, “You take one step and come up for air. Then you take another step.”

The beauty of Tiny Task is that the small steps give you a chance to see if you went in the right direction. Does it feel like you are a little bit closer? If so, take another step the same way: think of something to get you closer still, then do it.

Take the next small step, then take a moment to see if it’s better.

Not all your steps will be in the right direction. There is a technique or two that will help you get started in a way that leads you to success.

Begin at the end

Picture the result you want to achieve. If it’s a physical project, like building a fence or a shed, imagine the fence or shed in its place, and how it will add value to your home. Next, disassemble the structure in your mind.

Example 1: Building a Fence

For example, fences are made of pickets strung between beams that are attached to a post. Imagine:

• Pickets taken off the beams and stacked in a pile

• Posts removed from the posts and stacked in another pile

• Posts lifted out of the ground, leaving holes behind

• Shoveling dirt into the holes

• Stakes in the ground where the holes are to be dug are pulled out

• Someone out there with a tape measure figuring out where to dig the holes

• Strings staked out to identify the boundary of the fence are removed

That’s pretty close to how you’d disassemble a fence. The tricky part in that example is measuring to place the posts in the correct spot.

The example gives you the steps that will bring you closer building a fence, which is a crude map of identifying the Tiny Tasks you can use to complete the project.

For instance, starting at the bottom of the above list, a tiny task would be to get enough string and stakes to identify the boundary. Another tiny task would be to get a tape measure and a hammer for the stakes. And so on.

Example 2: Writing a book, or writing anything, really

When writing a book, you could again imagine the physical book before you. Open it to the table of contents. What’s on it? That table of contents gives you a roadmap of what you’re going to write about.

This presumes that you know what you want the book to be about when you decide you’re going to write a book. What if you only know that you want to write a book, but don’t know what about?

This is a challenge because you want a specific result with an non-specific form. A book but no genre, topic, or length. Like a building a fence without a place to put it, you have to think a bit more to head in the right direction.

Journaling is a way to begin that is a small step forward. Journal? Journal about what?

Journal in the form of a conversation with yourself to decide what you want your future book to be about. Ask yourself questions such as:

• What are you excited about?

• What is a problem the world needs to hear about?

• What is a fun story people might like to hear?

Keep journaling until these questions are answered. They should raise more questions, which is fine; answer those, as well.

If you worry that journaling is not taking a step in the right direction, take solace in that you’ll likely take many steps in the pages of the journal that you can harvest later for your project.

There are a couple of physical laws that lend themselves to the concept of Tiny Tasks. The first is the phenomenon of static and dynamic friction.

Friction, as you may know, is the grip one object has on another when they are in contact. For example, a block of cement has a lot of friction when in contact with more cement, such as a road. When you push the block of cement, you have to overcome its weight as well as the friction to move it.

But once you get the block of cement moving, the friction decreases, making it a little easier to keep moving. It’s the difference between static and dynamic friction.

Another physical law is the one about inertia. It states that objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by outside forces. Objects in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by outside forces.

In terms of getting stuff done, a project that is static, because it’s just an idea in your head, tends to stay an idea in your head until you act upon it. Taking a small step forward—with a Tiny Task—is acting upon that static project.

Once your project is in motion—that is, you’ve taken a small step forward—it tends to keep moving forward.

Take a step and the load lightens.

Take another step and you’ll keep it going.

Find your first, next, and ultimately last step by identifying Tiny Tasks you can use to get a little closer to your goal.

Unlocking your creative potential is the start of a journey. Hopefully it leads to satisfying and compelling works of art to share with the world.

But if it only leads to a sense of personal satisfaction, and helps you understand this world, you will have done something fine with your life.

Now put this advice into action and let me know if you need help with anything.