The list had 47 things on it. I counted. Twice.
I was gearing up to self-publish How to Clone Yourself — a book I’d never written, in a way I’d never done it, with a publishing process I knew nothing about. And I sat there looking at that list thinking, “Okay. This is overwhelming. Where do I even start?”
Sound familiar?
If you’ve ever stared down a project so big it made your brain go quiet in the worst way, you already know this feeling. And here’s what I want you to know before we go one sentence further: the reason you keep stalling isn’t what you think it is.
It’s not you. It’s the order.
We love to blame ourselves when a project stops moving. We decide we’re not motivated enough. Not disciplined enough. Too busy, too scattered, too far behind. But that’s almost never what’s actually going on.
The real reason projects stall — or stop altogether — is that we start with the hardest thing.
We look at a giant project, like writing and publishing a book, and it feels massive. It feels heavy. So we pick up that hard, heavy piece, we hold it for a minute, and then we put it right back down. And nothing happens.
This is what happens with launches. With designing new offers. With those team conversations you’ve been avoiding. With looking at your financials, revamping a revenue stream, adding a new product. It’s the same pattern every time, and it has nothing to do with your character. It’s the order in which we go about doing things.
The easy-to-hard method
So let me give you the approach I actually use to get big, hard projects done. I call it the easy-to-hard method, and it’s three moves.
First, dump it all out. Identify every single thing you need to do to bring this project to life. Every step. Don’t worry about the order yet — just get it out of your head and onto paper. (Do note anything that’s genuinely time-sensitive, so it doesn’t get lost.)
Second, find the easiest possible step. Not the most important one. Not the biggest. Not even the one with the closest deadline. The easiest. The one you could knock out right now without your stomach dropping.
Third, keep asking one question: What’s the next easiest thing? Do that. Then ask again. And again.
You’re sequencing from easy to hard. First easy thing, then the next, then the next. And by the time you get to the thing that once looked impossible, something has shifted.
By the time you reach the hard thing, it’s not so hard
Here’s the part nobody tells you. The hard thing doesn’t magically become easy. What changes is you.
By the time you reach it, you’ve built momentum. You’ve learned things along the way. You’ve stacked up a little confidence — that quiet “wait, I’ve actually got this” feeling. The thing that once looked impossible is now just the next step. You look up and realize, “I’m almost there. I’m actually doing this.”
And you are.
This is science, not avoidance
If part of you is worried that starting with the easy stuff is just fancy procrastination — I hear you. But the research says otherwise.
The Progress Principle tells us that even tiny forward movement on meaningful work has a real, positive impact — on what we get done and on how we feel while we’re doing it. Small wins are fuel.
And the Zeigarnik effect shows that unfinished projects with long, open to-do lists create actual mental noise. That low hum of “I still have to do all of this.” The second you start and focus on one small piece, you begin to quiet that noise. You start moving toward results — because you can’t control the results, but you can absolutely control the action steps that get you closer to them.
Starting easy isn’t avoidance. It’s strategy.
What it looked like for me
Take the book. I’m publishing it in the fall of 2026, and when I started, I had no idea how the publishing process even worked. But I knew people who did — Sarah Cannon, who has a whole course on publishing and thriving, plus a handful of experts I trust to help me get it across the line.
Except before any of that, I had to write the dang thing.
I didn’t start by writing a book. I started with an outline, because that felt easy. Then chapter one — okay, a little less easy, but by then it was already feeling more doable. Then the next, and the next. By the time I hit “let’s publish this thing,” the dominoes were already falling and it was getting easier by the minute.
Now I’m turning my attention to marketing the book — and I’m about to start the whole process over again. Easiest thing first.
Your turn
So here’s my invitation. Look at everything on your plate, or pick that one project you’ve been avoiding, and answer a single question: What’s the easiest next step you could take?
Just the easiest one. Not the hardest, not the biggest, not the most important. Our only goal right now is to start — because starting is what gets the momentum going, and momentum is what topples the dominoes.
Remember: you’re not stuck because this project is too hard. You get stuck because you start at the wrong end. So start with what feels easy, do the next easy thing, and keep asking the question. You’re not making the hard thing easier. You’re building the roadmap to get there.
I had 47 things on that list. I didn’t start with the most important one. I started with the easiest one. That changed everything — because starting anywhere at all beats not starting at any time.
You are 100% right on time to step into action on your next thing.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
The list had 47 things to do on it. Oh yes, I counted So I sat there looking at it thinking, “Okay, this is sad and overwhelming, and where do I even start?” Sound familiar? I am gearing up for self-publishing the book, How to Clone Yourself. I’ve never self-published a book before. I’ve never written a book like this before, and I had no idea where to start.
And honestly, it all felt overwhelming. But before I could even launch the book, I have to write the dang thing. Where am I gonna begin? Well, I did the only thing I know what to do when something feels massive and overwhelming and I don’t know where to start. I started with the absolute easiest thing I could think of.
The real reason projects stall or stop altogether isn’t because you’re not motivated. It’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you don’t know what you’re doing or because you don’t have enough time, though I know your time is precious. It’s often because we start with the hardest thing. We look at a giant project like that, like writing and publishing a book, and it feels massive, it feels overwhelming, and it feels hard.
So we pick up that hard, heavy project, and then we put it down, and nothing happens. This is what happens with launches, with designing new offers, with having those hard team conversations, with looking at your financials or revamping a revenue stream or adding a new offer or a product. But that stops today because it’s not you.
It’s the order in which we go about doing things. So let me introduce to you the approach I use to get hard, big projects done. It is the easy to hard method. Let me explain. If you’ve got a big project with 47 or somewhere in there to-dos, maybe even more, and you’re looking at that whole to-do list and wondering, “Oh my gosh, I, I don’t even know where to start,” or it’s just a project you haven’t even listed out the to-dos yet, it is too overwhelming, that’s where we’ve got to start.
I want you to identify all of the things that you need to do to bring this project, this goal to life. Maybe it’s a new marketing campaign. What are all of the steps that you need to take to bring this to life? Now, don’t worry about order yet. That is our second step. Of course, there are gonna be some things that are time-sensitive, so consider that as we lay this out.
Then I want you to map out what is the easiest possible step you could take to get started on this project. Then what is the next easiest step you could take? And before you know it, we are gonna be at that thing that we once thought was so hard. So you’re sequencing from easy to hard. So what you’re gonna do is the first easy thing, then the next easy thing, then the next easy thing, and by the time you get to the latter, when you’re at that thing that was once hard, it is not gonna feel so hard anymore.
And you’re gonna have all of this momentum behind you from doing all of those other things, and you’re gonna realize, “Wait, I’m almost there. I am freaking doing-” It. Yes, you are. By the time you get to the hard thing, it’s not so hard anymore. You’ve learned along the way. You’ve got momentum along the way, and you’ve likely built a bit of confidence that I’ve got this.
And yes, you do. The thing that once looked impossible is now just a next step. The progress principle shows us that even making tiny forward movement on meaningful work has a positive impact on getting things done and on how we feel about the work. So I don’t know about you, but it sounds like starting easy isn’t actually avoidance It’s science, and it’s gonna help you get things done.
Take my book, for example, that I am indeed publishing in the fall of 2026. I didn’t know where to start in that publishing process, but I know people that do. I know someone, Sara Cannon, who has a course to help people publish and thrive, and I know people like Kelly and Brian and Kathryn and Cherie who have expertise to help me get that book published.
But before I even get there, I’ve got to write the dang thing. It is now written, but I started not by writing a whole book. I started with an outline because that felt easy. Then I started with chapter one. Okay, not the easiest, but it’s feeling easier and easier and easier and easier and easier. By the time I got to the step of let’s publish this thing, all of the dominoes were falling, and it was getting easier by the minute.
Now I’ve got to turn my attention to marketing and telling people about this book, and I’m gonna start the process all over again. The Zeigarnik effect shows that unfinished projects that have long lists create mental noise. So just by starting and getting focused on one small piece of the project, you’re starting to clear that mental noise, and you’re moving towards results because you cannot control the results that you take, but you can absolutely control the action steps you take to move you closer to the results.
So I promise you, if you get in action, your chances of reaching your goals absolutely go up. I break all this down in the All the Things workbook to help you get all the things done in a strategic way. I’ll tell you where to get that in the comments, so check that out. But in the meantime, I want to invite you to check out all the things that you have to do or look at one specific project that you’ve been avoiding and identify what is your next easiest step to take.
Just the easiest one, not the hardest, not the biggest, not the most important, not maybe even the one that has the most pressing deadline because our goal now is just to start to get you that momentum, and then the dominoes are gonna fall. Remember, you’re not stuck because this project is too hard. We get stuck because we start at the wrong end of the project.
So you start with what feels easy, and you do that next, and then you ask the question over and over. And the hard thing doesn’t get easier. You just build the roadmap to get to the destination. I had 47 things on that list, and I didn’t start with the most important one. I started with the easiest one.
That changed everything. Starting anywhere at all beats not starting any time. So with that, you are 100% right on time to step into action on your next thing. I can’t wait to see what it is. Let me know in the comments so I can cheer you on, and I’ll see you in the next episode
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