The First Little Thing

"Getting started is the hardest part."

How many times have I heard this?  How many times have I believed it?  

Several years ago, I was part of a training during which we looked at personality types.  One of the things we talked about was people who were Natural Starters versus people who were Natural Finishers.  For Natural Starters, planning, prepping, and getting things going drive them.  They are great at making lists and charts and creating organizational systems.  They can rally people to collaborate and get projects going.  In their own lives, they can make plans until the cows come home.  After a while, their interest seems to taper off.  They don't use the systems they've created and put in place.  Projects sit, unfinished, collecting dust, and going unused.  

On the other hand, there are Natural Finishers.  These people like doing day-to-day work.  They work well within systems and get extreme satisfaction with a job well done.  When left on their own to lead a project, they seem unorganized and seem to go in several different directions.  

When Starters and Finishers team up, they can move mountains.  Starters create the direction and systems while Finishers make sure the work gets done and gets done right.  The world needs both types of people.

I am a Starter.  I love organizing things, making plans, creating lists, setting up notebooks and bullet charts, and using multi-colored pens to get it all done.  I am an ideas person.  I like to research the best ways to get things done.  I do not, however often follow through.  

I work best when I have a deadline.  When something has to be done by a certain day, it will be done.  I just need to know when that is.  It also helps to have someone looking over my shoulder as things near the end.  

"Getting started is the hardest part."  For me, this is a lie.

"Getting through is the hardest part."  For me, this is the truth.  

At this point in my life, I am 34 years old and single.  My life goals have changed in the last 10 years (which I firmly believe is a good thing.)  Last year, I read something (which will be a different post, I'm sure) about the difference in being "successful" and being "a success."  One is the measure that others use to determine if you are a successful person.  This includes things like earned income, family size, owning vs renting a house, and expected jobs based on level of education.  The other is the measure that you use to personally determine if you are a success.  This could include how fulfilled you are by the work you do, how happy you are, your level of stress, and how often you reach your personal goals.  My life is dramatically different since then. 

As a Starter, I need some accountability to reach the goals I have set for myself (and believe me there are goals... I'm a Starter after all.)  That's where this blog comes into play.  I'm not expecting hoards of followers.  I don't plan on getting rich and quitting my day job. 

Here is the FIRST LITTLE THING I am planning for myself: Stating my goals in a real, public way.

Goal 1: Get healthy.  I am about 36 pounds away from a "healthy BMI" (and yes, I know this is an old way of looking at health, but it is a goal I can focus on, so I will focus on that.) which, given the 83 pounds I've already lost, seems totally attainable.  Time to actually work on the healthy eating habits that I know all about and to move in more purposeful ways.

Goal 2:  Financial stability.  I have a full time job that I love, a retirement plan through the State, and very few bills I need to pay on a regular basis.  I need to work on this, though.  My bank account would be much happier if I could figure this out.

Goal 3:  Get involved.  I moved from my hometown about a year ago.  Starting over is never easy, and I am ready to get out there and find some other ways to get involved in my new community.