I would like to introduce you to a tool I like called the Power of One. It’s a useful tool that can be used in any area of your life, but I particularly like it for fitness. The trick is to complete a tiny amount of the activity that is being procrastinated on. I often procrastinate on important activities because I think it’s going to be hard. The problem here, is that most of the time, I have no idea how hard something is going to be. Now, the more an activity get’s built up in my head as being difficult, the more difficult it becomes to even start! So let’s look at a technique to overcome this.
Some days I am feeling lethargic and lazy, probably due to sitting around too long. Science tells us that a “body in motion, tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest, tends to stay at rest”. Now, using this as a guiding force, it’s time to put the Power of One to use! I don’t really want to be a lazy blob, it’s just how I’m feeling. So using the power of one, I force myself to do one push-up (hear crickets sounding). Now this may seem like nothing, but that’s not true. One is light years away from zero. This means I have to clear off my yoga mat, take off my slippers, get down on the floor, and crank out a push up. Now, if am in a low energy state, and one push up is all I can muster, so be it, I didn’t feel like working out anyways. I hate you working out!
Now the above instance almost never, ever happens. Most of the time, I’ll do one push up, then usually think to myself how silly it is to do only one push up, so I’ll do a few. Feeling mildly better, I usually grab my heavy weights and make myself do one dead lift, which turns into two or more, then I’ll do one squat, do one pull up, etc. Before I know it, I end up having a 30 minute, full body workout. Compare this to the starting point of being so tired that I can barely convince myself to do one push-up. The compound effect in play here is a beautiful thing. Most of the effort in completing a task is eliminating mental barriers anyways, doing the first eliminates those barriers.
This habit can be applied to many areas of life, but it is best for areas where there is procrastination involved. For example, I registered this domain name a full year before I built the website. Getting tired of my exceptional ability of never ending procrastination, I fired up Microsoft Word, whipped out my first idea, and quickly critiqued myself on how poor my writing is. Regardless, I sent it to my girlfriend who seems to always support my wonky ways. Then, doing nothing with the post for several weeks, I managed to build up the courage to show it to one friend. I couldn’t believe they didn’t think I was an idiot! My heart grew a thousand times that day from the shriveled up, Grinch-like state that it usually occupies. Without that first article, there would be no blog.
The biggest benefit of the Power of One is it gives an accurate reading on the work required to get what is desired. For example, my first employer after graduating laid me off due to financial problems. After an extended break, and being screamed at that I “need to get a job” from my mother, I interviewed with four different companies. I received exactly four rejection letters. My problem is I didn’t know how to “get to one.” However, I kept on learning, and figuring out how to get an offer. My next two interviews went great and I received offers from both employers. Getting from one to two is easy. But one is at the other end of the world from zero.
Most of the time, the reason we are procrastinating is because we have no idea how much work is required. Get that first one done, take the smallest step possible. Before you know it, you will be well down the path you’re looking for.
Adam
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