I headed to my local bookstore to search for a book about getting started. Not one of the jillions of books about starting specific things (yes, there actually is a book about getting started in pyrography), but one about getting started, in general, with whatever it is you’re trying to start.

I’d found a title that I had thought might work. Its author’s last name started with the letter M or N or something in the middle of the alphabet, so I trekked down the Self Improvement aisle to search for it. I was immediately drawn, as if by neodymium magnet, to the display of Brené Brown books. I perused the titles. “Yep, read that one. Oooh, I loved that one! Maybe I should go back and re-read… But, right, I’m here to get that book on getting started, and as much as I love Brené, I’m on a mission. OK, let’s see. C… G…. K… Where is it?”

As I searched for the nearly-forgotten title, that shelf in the B’s kept beckoning to me, so I walked back up the aisle to look through my favorite author’s works again. There, on the shelf just above Brown, a bright yellow cover with a red and blue title shone its primary-colored beacon at me. “Um, hel-lo? Notice me?”

Huzzah! Start Right Where You Are: How Little Changes Can Make a Big Difference for Overwhelmed Procrastinators, Frustrated Overachievers, and Recovering Perfectionists by Sam Bennett. Granted, the subtitle was so long it already felt like a commitment, but I read the back jacket and was completely hooked—mainly because under the large print, “What are you waiting for?” it said that this was “an easy-to-read, easy-to-do guidebook.” If I’m already procrastinating, I don’t need a dense tome to tell me how to get going: I need easy and approachable.

The book is arranged in 65 succinct chapters that draw from her personal experience and end with a “Little Changes Action Step.” Those steps are tiny shifts in perspective or actions that she calls us to take today. Right now. As I read, I tried to take each little step, often not even taking time to track down a piece of paper, but scribbling my thoughts and answers right in the book. I found myself building momentum toward my goal.

One of my favorite Little Changes Action Steps is “Five-Minute Art.” Bennett says that when you have big feelings, instead of getting stuck in the feeling, do some five-minute art about it. Art that you don’t intend to keep–just something creative that allows the feelings to be felt so you can move on. She gives suggestions like creative movement, journaling with your non-dominant hand, drawing, and more. I’ve used this action step lots–and it works!

The book is completely relatable. Bennett begins her introduction with the sentence, “I was totally miserable.” After a page and a half of describing how she was “an overscheduled mess,” she then contrasts her past state with her life today, where, “I get to spend all day doing work that I love, with people I love, in a place that I love. Life is sweet.” What? You do work that you love? And I can do that, too? Revolutionary!

Later in the book (and I’m not telling you where because you really need to read the whole book), Bennett admonishes us to “hire geniuses” and pay them what they’re worth. This was the earth-shattering concept that most allowed me to get moving creating DoYouMind.life: “The work only you can do, you must do. The work that someone else can do, someone else must do.”

What a concept–dropping all the things that can be delegated to others and focusing on doing the things that only I can do! Prior to this, I had been toying with ideas for Do You Mind, but I didn’t know how to bring them all together to create the website I could so clearly envision. Now here was Sam Bennett telling me that I needed to let go of much of the noise in my head and start focusing on the creative content.

And the moment I let go of thinking I had to do it all myself, just as Bennett says, “geniuses came out of the woodwork.” I found other people–or they found me–who caught my vision and wanted to be involved in all the support roles I needed to create this community.

I’ll admit that I didn’t do every single action step in the book, but I did enough of them to start making a difference. Enough that by the time I made my initial contact with Carmen White Janak, project manager for DoYouMind.life, she caught my momentum and jumped aboard the train. (Be sure to tune into the podcast with Carmen to hear more.) Her enthusiasm then fueled me even further, and the project was on its way.

Start Right Where You Are is filled with insight while being approachable and warm, like a conversation with a close friend. I found myself agreeing out loud with much of the book, scribbling exclamation points and writing in my own similar experiences.

I encourage you, Dear Reader, to get your own copy of Start Right Where You Are*, grab a pen or pencil, and start marking it up. Scribble in it. Underline. Write with your non-dominant hand. Make it your own! Take even some of the “Small Changes Action Steps” and see what happens. After all, today is going to be twenty-four hours long, no matter what you do. Why not see if even a few minutes of this day can move you toward your goal?

Then be sure to share your steps with others. The Community Engagement Page is a great place to start!

Until next time,