[2021-08-31] Getting started
A friend recently sent me an inspiring quote by Mark Twain:
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
I later learned that the quote continues:
The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.
This could be my mantra—not because I consistently behave this way, but because it's something I strive for.
I used to be the kind of person who would tackle a big project, such as cleaning my house, and want to do the whole thing in one go. I often had the energy to do it.
But, increasingly, I prefer to break big jobs into little ones. I'm not sure whether that's a reflection of my having less energy or my having more wisdom, but it just makes more sense to me.
My mom seems to be taking the same approach. This evening, she mentioned that she spends half an hour each day neatly piling wood in her basement. I had offered to go up to the farm one day and spend a few hours with her to get the job done, but she prefers the slow-and-steady approach. After half an hour, she's had enough.
I have the same feeling about dealing with the summer's harvest. Every few days, my sister passes along a basket of tomatoes from her garden. I've been making tomato sauce and tomato soup and, today, I made salsa. It would feel overwhelming if I had a huge quantity to deal with in one fell swoop.
I like Twain's quote because it suggests that getting ahead is as simple as getting started, and that getting started is as simple as picking one thing—the first step in a journey of a thousand steps—to get moving.
