One of my biggest challenges in life, and writing, is this all-or-nothing mindset I somehow developed along the way.

I could spend some time on where this came from, but that would probably be its own whole blog post. Suffice it to say, it’s probably related to the notion I’ve had since I was a kid about perfectionism, feeling unworthy unless I was succeeding, terrified to fail. So as a result, I’ve been stuck in this idea that I have to do everything within the construct of some false idea I have about time spent or success achieved or some other wacko metric that I came up with in my own flawed mind, that I can’t do it, not going to get there, it’s not enough, I’ll never get it done/right/fill in the blank.

For instance, some of my blocks in the past included things like:

Unless I can devote four, five, eight hours a day to writing, there’s no time to write, therefore I do nothing.

Unless I can work out for an hour, why bother.

If I don’t have exactly every single ingredient that’s laid out in the recipe for the healthy dinner I was thinking of making, I can’t do it.

If I can’t save xxx dollars a month in my investment account, what’s the use.

And on and on.

I’ve started to recognize this in myself and how it’s been holding me back. I’ve committed to working on changing this mindset because it is not serving me. Because the truth is, it’s the little steps, the few minutes, the $20 you save, that is going to add up. I realized I’m not going to get anywhere if I wait for the perfect time block to do something, or some imagined amount of money.

Do it now.

If you have 10 minutes this morning, brainstorm for that writing project. Put a few dollars in a savings or investment account. Do 10 squats while you’re waiting for your coffee to brew. I’m telling you, it adds up.