"Begin it now."

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the change to draw back—Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(excerpted in The Myths of Innovation, p.39)

It's not really our fault that we don't like to start new projects. The blame for that belongs to millenniums of evolutionary adaptation, hard-wired deep into our minds and bodies. We admire innovation because it is relatively rare, and runs counter to our day-to-day instincts.

Why is this? Organisms like us follow a few basic rules that inhibit our efforts to overcome inertia:

• Don't waste energy. We never know when we might need our precious reserves of energy for fighting, hunting, fleeing, or humping. Or simply surviving through the night.


• Don't do anything different, new, or strange. Experimentation is all well and good during our childhood, but the tendency toward peer-group conformity that takes hold in our teenage years reflects the tribal dangers of continued unorthodox behavior. The stakes are higher as an adult, when non-conformity can lead to shunning or exile and unnecessary exploration can lead to death.


• Especially don't waste energy on anything different, new, or strange!
  

The circuitry that gives rise to this type of thinking is obviously not adapted for the modern world; certainly nobody reading this is in any real danger of starvation, predation, or being stoned to death. But our genetic legacy has left us with an incredibly powerful mental block that takes conscious, sustained effort to overcome.

Just think: when was the last time you tried something truly new? A different route home from work, a new food in your regular diet, or a new routine in the morning? We are creatures of habit, and our set routines are both comforting and reasonably efficient — especially to the extent that we don't have to spend energy constantly re-thinking them. Our unthinking routines can also be stultifying and sclerotic, though, preventing us from making progress in our lives.

Conquering the lazy enemy in our heads

The good news is that we can conquer this inbred inclination toward inertia, using nothing more than the power of our minds. We can choose to overcome our inherently lazy heritage. Here's one method for changing our patterns of thought:

1. Choose something you want to do. What have you always dreamed of doing? Finding a new job, learning a language, or starting a business? Something small can be equally useful in changing our pattern of thinking: starting a new project at work or around the house, planning a trip, or starting to exercise. Large or small, life-changing or trivial, choose something.
   


2. Figure out the next action. Keep asking yourself "what's the next action?" until you have a concrete step that you can actually do. As David Allen explains, this can be surprisingly tricky if we're not in the regular habit of doing it:
   

      Often even the simplest things are stuck because we haven't made a final decision yet about the next action. People in my seminars often have things on their lists like "Get a tune-up for the car." Is "Get a tune-up" a next action? Not unless you're walking out with wrench in hand, dressed for grease.
      "So, what's the next action?"
      "Uh, I need to take the car to the garage. Oh, yeah, I need to find out if the garage can take it. I guess I need to call the garage and make the appointment."
      "Do you have the number?"
      "Darn, no... I don't have the number for the garage. Fred recommended that Garage to me, and I don't have the number. I knew something was missing from the equation.
      "So, what's the next action?"
      "I need to get the number. I guess I could get it from Fred."
      "Do you have Fred's number?"
      "I have Fred's number!"
      So the next action really is "Call Fred for the number of the garage."



3. Write it down. Now that we've done the thinking, our effort shouldn't go to waste—remember how we are about wasted energy! It is absolutely critical that we write down the next action, and stick it somewhere that we'll see it (preferably somewhere annoying, where it won't be easy ignore). This may seem like a trivial and ignorable step; it is not. Write it down.
   


4. Promise yourself that you'll do it, and then just do it. Don't rationalize putting it off—that's the internal mental block talking, our subconscious evolutionary enemy. We can defeat it by choosing action over inaction. Make a commitment and then follow through on it.

"The secret of getting ahead," Mark Twain said, "is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." Something amazing will happen once you do; you'll reap a wellspring of positive energy and results "raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance." Our brains might be tremendously reluctant to start something new, but once they see that the new venture hasn't killed us, they're downright exultant with the results. Why not allow yourself that joy, and those benefits?

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.