#YourTurnChallenge - Day 5 - Getting Unstuck

What to do When it's Your Turn is a book by Seth Godin.  It's been morphed into a writing challenge and you can click the book cover up there to find more information.

~~~oOo~~~

Day 5:  What advice would you give for getting unstuck?

I must say I am a Mistress of Breaking Big Plans Down Into Ridiculously Small Steps.  Probably more than half the time I feel completely overwhelmed by the 'big picture' - so much so that even if it is something that needs to happen, I have a lot of trouble actually starting, figuring if I'm going to fail anyway, I might as well save the time and effort.  (I know.  But I told you about my depression on Day 1 of the challenge.)

So, what do I mean by ridiculously small steps?

Say we're talking about getting out of bed and starting my day.  Some people can jump up and be about their business in fairly short order.  Once in a while that is even true for me...but not always.

Some days it goes like this:

1) Wake up.  (This one doesn't take a lot of effort on my part and actually happens whether I want it to or not.)
2) Think about getting out of bed.
3) Decide to stretch some before I do, because I read somewhere that that is a good thing.
4) Actually stretch.
5)  Reach down to pull aside the covers.
6)  Move my legs off the edge of the bed.
7)  Use principles of gravity and momentum to allow dropping my legs to the floor to cause me to sit up.
8)  Think about laying back down before that wonderful lazy sleepy feeling completely disappears.
9)  Swear at the dogs who are scratching at the side door to be let out.
10)  Actually stand up.

Ok, yes, this is a bit tongue-in-cheek.  But if I can break a daunting process down into small enough steps, I can often get enough of these micro-steps under my belt to feel like I have a chance at coloring in all the numbers on the big picture.