… copied an old newsletter.

It’s something I do several times each week.

I copied it because as much as I love creating newsletters for clients, I hate the very first step in the writing process.

That’s when, after getting off the phone with a client, I am left with a word doc filled (to varying degrees) with a jumble of notes, thoughts, quotes, and miscellany.

Organizing all of this into something terrific always feels like an impossibly high mountain to climb.

And so, I begin by copying the previous month’s final draft for that client – the draft that we both agreed was “perfect” – and dropping it into my document, below all my notes.

Somehow, and even though this copying step does nothing to change the mishmash of notes up top, having a completed newsletter mixed into the same document starts the ball rolling for me.

Many activities, not just writing (exercising, dieting, yelling at children, etc.), are hardest at the beginning.

See if you can find a reliable way to get the ball rolling in your own work day, even if it means playing mind tricks with yourself.