Ship in Six

Lesson #6: Finish something microscopic.

It's hump day.

No, I don't mean Wednesday… although it is Wednesday, that would be too easy. Wednesday, after all, comes a mere once a week. This is the kind of hump that lasts and lasts.

A hump day of the soul.

You're in the middle of a project. (Well, you should be…)

Your momentum is slowing. (What momentum?)

You're in danger of sliding back down the wrong side of the mountain. (Too late!)

You got 99 things on your to-do list and Screw It All ain't one.

But……… ugh……… you can't even bear to open your email, much less answer it; to look at your list, much less think about it; to pick up the phone, to make a plan, to load it all into your brain so you can start crunching through the possibilities…

So it's back to obsessively reloading Twitter. Or Reddit. Or whatever. To fill the void.

And you know — like I know — that this can go on for days, weeks, months even (ugh) years.

You wanna Ship in Six, though. You're not gonna let That Thing you love die.

You've got to do something.

Remember our good frenemy, the Zeigarnik Effect? That's the psychic toll of undone work, weighing you down like an anchor.

The more you let it stop you from shipping, the more undone work will pile up, the heavier the weight, the more crushed you'll become.

You've got to do something.

Break the cycle with a single win

You don't have to finish everything to lift the oppression.

You just have to finish one thing. Just one little thing.

Close one open loop. The relief will give you a burst of energy. Use that energy to do the next little thing.

Start with a micro-win.

It's easy — just pick something small, and do it til it's done:

  • Finish one blog post in your Drafts folder
  • Answer one email
  • Fix one tiny bug
  • Review one thing you wrote / recorded / designed for editing
  • Make one phone call
  • Ship one page with a Call to Action

Anything that's small and shippable: Keep it small, and ship it!

It doesn't even have to be related to the project you're stuck on (though, believe me, it'll double your impact if it is).

Your micro-win can be anything that's been taking up headspace: Hang that painting. Fix that hanging cabinet door. Glue that broken cup back together. Clear one pile off your desk. List one thing on Craigslist. Whatever little in your home or work or life that you walk by and go "Ugh" every time… that'll do.

My favorite micro-win ever was socks. Yeah, socks. I ordered a lingerie wash bag for the washing machine, which took about $5 and 60 seconds on Amazon. Now I throw my dirty socks in there whenever I take them off. Voila, no more lost or escaped socks. It felt great!

The micro-win itself isn't the point. The point is how you'll feel afterwards:

Ahhhhhhhhh.

PROGRESS!

So if you're stuck (or slowing down) (or haven't started), make a micro-effort for a micro-win.

And then bask in the released energy of a job well done. Then use it.

Wins beget wins.

Then hit reply and let me know what it was, because I'd love to know :)

Til next time (and that'll be next Monday because there isn't a separate Challenge email because this one really speaks for itself, doesn't it?)

Amy

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