Holy good God—does this feel like a good week to talk about slow starts?

Some of us had all our ducks in a row on Monday and came out of the gates swinging. Other teammates still have leftovers—or extra family members—hanging around, spoiling any hopes of conquering those New Year’s resolutions. Let’s collectively agree that whether we’ve tidied our entire attic, worked out for the last five days, or sat on the couch watching season two of Bad Sisters—it’s all perfectly ok.

I’m usually more of a ducks-in-a-row kind of gal. But there are also times when no matter what I do, I cannot seem to get out of my own way. What’s great about this is that I’m a grown up and I have choices. This is a little check-list I can use if and when my ducks refuse to line up:

1. Show myself some compassion – no more bad girling just because I’m not motivated. What helps me is if I remind myself of solid reasons why I’m not motivated.“Mags, even the best ducks need a minute to fluff their feathers after hosting the whole paddle of ducks for the holidays. No worries—they’ll eventually waddle into place!”
2. Back to basics – maybe I’m tired, dehydrated, or hungry. There are so many times when I question why I’m struggling throughout a day only to pause and realize that I haven’t been sleeping well, or I’m famished, or I haven’t had any water that day. 
3. What’s my #1 task? When I have that monkey brain feeling and I don’t know where to begin, that’s a signal to only do one thing: Sit down and figure out exactly what’s causing me the most stress and only focus on starting that one task.
4. Baby step – (just one step.) Instead of trying to finish an entire project in a day, I can focus on just a tiny first step. For example, if I’ve been meaning to take better care of my mental health in 2025…I don’t have to call the therapist today, maybe today I just get names of therapists. So often I don’t take the first step because I feel overwhelmed by ALL the steps.
5. Acceptance of the baby step – giving myself half-credit is a new thing for me, but it really helps. That first step is always the hardest for me, but it’s been so much easier since I’ve given myself permission to ONLY take one step in a day. And it almost always works out that once I get moving, I’m completely open to taking more than one step.
6. Repeat the list again tomorrow – if I keep identifying the goal and take a baby step towards the goal, Team, the Christmas gift box graveyard will eventually be handled…at least by Valentine’s day, for sure!

I used to think that being hard on myself was my internal parent hard at work making certain that I was making something of myself. Now that voice just sounds like an insecure perfectionist who only feels loveable when she’s accomplishing something. And while I know better now, I think sometimes the thought of having to complete something perfectly is exactly what’s paralyzing me. Setting lower expectations for myself has actually made me a more productive person in the long run. I don’t think I realized how so much of my defeat in life was born from the a-hole on my shoulder suggesting that my efforts were never good enough. “Scram ya little twerp! There’s a new sheriff in town and she’s full of patience, compassion, AND? Results!”

If you’d like to listen to more on this topic, I’ll link to my posts about embracing my pace titled:
Slow is the New Fast – Learning How to Heed My Speed
Slow is the New Fast – Shifting My Perspective on Speed

Thanks for listening TeamC!