What does writing on LinkedIn have in common with a long rowing machine workout?
A few weeks ago I started the challenge of posting every day on LinkedIn for 30 days. I’m trying to overcome my perfectionism about writing. When you have to “ship” something every day, you let go of every sentence being perfect and spend less time wondering if it’ll be interesting.
But it’s hard to write and post every day, especially at the beginning.
And that’s what made me think of these workouts. When I start a long erg (rowing machine) workout or a very hard piece, I need to feel progress, even early on. So I mark when I’ve done 10% of the distance, 20 % , etc.
And I did the same with the 30 days of LinkedIn writing:
3 days – 10% done
4 days – uh, that’s tough math, say 15% done
6 days – 20% done
…and so on.
Today I’m at the halfway point, 15 days, and it feels good enough that I don’t need to count down the days anymore.
When you are leading a project, at what point do you start celebrating progress?
We often hesitate to call out the small, early milestones because they don’t seem substantial enough. But sometimes getting started is the hardest part.
Try celebrating the early milestones, and see the momentum build. Like it’s been doing for me.
