Bestselling author Jack Canfield once said, “You don’t have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going.” When you feel overwhelmed and ready to give up, tell yourself you’ll try something for just five minutes and then you can stop.

When you start and five minutes pass, more often than not you’ll want to keep going. What’s hard is starting – not continuing once you get it going.

For instance, if you introduced a habit to exercise for 30 minutes three times per week, tell yourself you’ll put your running shoes and go for a quick 5-minute jog around the block.

If you can’t force yourself to go to the gym, tell yourself you will only perform one exercise and then you can go home.

 If you have a hard time meditating, tell yourself you’ll only meditate for one minute.

Make the act of starting as painless as possible. Once you overcome the initial resistance, you should find it much easier to keep going.

Avoid procrastination by telling yourself you’ll only perform a certain task for five minutes. Chances are that once you start, you’ll want to keep going.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.