The start is half the way to the goal

This is an entry from my journal.

Yesterday I finished work at 9 PM. I did a lot of manual labour during the day and then continued with some projects on the computer. After I was done with everything, I felt too tired to go for my nightly long walk with the dogs. Normally, those walks last an hour or so. They are shorter only if the weather conditions are unfavourable. But we always go, no matter what. Last night was especially hard though, so I allowed myself to take it easy by committing to a 10-minute walk instead. I wanted to do it for the dogs… We eventually walked for more than hour. The feeling of fatigue I had disappeared as soon as I warmed up.

This was not a surprise to me. There is a Greek saying that comes to us from antiquity, which states that “the start is the half of everything” (η αρχή είναι το ήμισυ του παντός). The idea is that when we set out to do something, the most difficult part is to make the initial commitment. Once we get in the flow, we develop momentum and can go all the way.

I think the tricky part is with how we manage our expectations about the kind of goal we have in mind when we start a project. If the goal is unrealistic, then the start will not amount to much. But if what we want is within our means, then we can maintain the motivation to make things happen.

The key in my case yesterday was the flexibility I demonstrated in setting a standard for myself. I believe I would not have left home had I insisted that the walk be an hour long. Ten minutes are easy for me, so lowering the target that much gave me no excuse to stay home. I knew this would be trivial and I intentionally challenged my sense of pride.

I discovered a variation on this theme a long time ago. Back then I was trying to “be productive”. Inspired by the Getting Things Done methodology, I would spell out all the subtasks of a project, have a highly detailed and prescriptive plan, and then try to do everything in the predetermined order. But I quickly realised this was not working for me: the sheer number of tasks combined with the rigidity of the agenda was forcing me into inaction. It was too intimidating to wrestle with that massive, cumbersome beast!

I thus learnt to focus on the main points and not record every piece of trivia. The list of total tasks was shorter, the sequence of foreseen events was more open-ended, and the work felt easier as a result. I would allow myself to discover the obvious subtasks through the process of mindful action.

Perhaps we demotivate ourselves when we make something bigger than it is. If I have a goal to “buy groceries from the local store”, I do not need to also spell out the implicit subtasks, such as “pick up your wallet”, “take your keys”, “make sure everything is okay at home”, “wear your shoes”, “buy 5 tomatoes and 10 onions”, and so on. These are rendering explicit patterns of mine and knowledge which are already well embedded in my conduct. I do not need to be reminded of them. If they appear on my task list, they crowd out the items I do need to remember. Thus they are producing noise and increasing the cognitive burden.

By simplifying tasks and not being a control freak, I put faith in my future self to (i) think critically, (ii) adapt to evolving states of affairs, and (iii) maintain a sense of agency. Whereas if I am micromanaging everything in the present, I am treating my future self as someone who is not reliable. And so, not only am I producing a seemingly gigantic list of superfluous tasks, I am also infantilising my future self. For me, this is disempowering.

The start being half of the total must then depend on the application of common sense. This is two-fold:

The goal is realisable. We set ourselves up to do something that we know is within our means or, in the case of ambitious targets, that is not too far away from our best performance.
We take it one step at a time instead of focusing on the whole project. This way, our sight is set on some smaller action that is manageable. The cumulative effect of those is the realisation of the project.

When we estimate our ability to finalise a project, we make self-evaluations both for the subtasks and for the whole project. I think all need to be realistic, though not necessarily perfectly certain. For as long as we have a solid plan, we can trust in our capacity to adapt. Our actions can thus be flexible as we acknowledge the fact that we often build the capacity to do what is necessary while doing it.

I had not built a house before setting up the hut. Yet I knew that I would get better at it while in the process of building it, so I did not let my initial evaluation intimidate me. There is room for growth. We have to be open to that possibility for it to be made manifest.

My walk last night reminded me of the latent power we have and how pushing ourselves ever so slightly does no harm. I could have convinced myself to stay home and chill. That would have been fine, anyway. Yet I opted for a compromise deal instead: to do something, even if not at the full intensity. The fact that I did go all the way is due to the lightness with which I was conducting myself: I had no expectation to do anything difficult. At the same time, I was allowing myself the chance to grow into the role, which is how I ended up doing the full hour.

I am happy with how things turned out. I continue with the same commitment and intensity.