When making a change feels overwhelming, trust that if you take one baby step in a new direction, other steps will follow. This is true when you’re considering a new habit. Decluttering your house. Changing jobs. Or moving across the country!
One step… you make a decision.
One step… you’re facing in a new direction.
One step… you’re a tiny bit closer to a goal.
What’s vital is that you choose each step with intent. What do you want to get done in the long run? And what’s one small step you can take today to get going?


Then, at a Songwriting Workshop last week, our leader Jud Caswell, talked about taking small steps to get started on something new, and mentioned Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird. The title comes from a time when Anne’s brother was procrastinating writing a big report on birds. The dad’s advice was to go bird by bird. And finally the report was done.
I’ve been part of a number of in-depth conversations over the last couple of weeks about how important community is, and how it can be so hard to grasp these days. The topic came up at work, in a book group, in an Eldering discussion group, at the Democracy Cafe, and among a circle of friends. Have you ever noticed when an idea bubbles up in your life that you hear it over and over?
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to get and stay organized. My latest inspiration is Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. These two Silicon Valley fellows found themselves swamped with work and while they had interesting careers, were unhappy with the amount of time they had left in the day to do work they loved. Part of the work they loved, of course, was writing a book about doing the work they loved… :).