For me, the hardest part of writing has always been getting started. I can remember those evenings writing papers in college. First, I’d take a shower and crawl into some comfortable clothes. Then I’d make a hot chocolate. I liked to work on the floor where I could spread out a bit, so I usually had to vacuum first…

The house was always spotless the day before a paper was due.

Yes, the day before. I tend to need the pressure of a deadline to get started. I wrote most of my college papers the night before they were due. Unfortunately, the positive grades and comments those papers recieved just reinforced the bad habit.

I think that’s one of the struggles with doctoral work. There are no real deadlines. You just have to set goals, try to keep to the schedule, and mail in a check now and then to pay for the experience.

Today’s goal was to work from 10 to 2. I ended up getting a late start, but I made up for it by working later into the afternoon. While I still have a long way to go, I chipped away at it a bit today. And I’ll chip a little more tomorrow. And maybe even some the next day.

When I give my second-grade students a task to complete, I often have to show them how to break it into smaller, more manageble and less stressful pieces. I have to do the same with my doctoral work. When I think about how much there still is to go, it’s overwhelming. When I only focus on today’s piece, it’s doable.

I think a lot of things in life are like that. Surving cancer seemed like a huge a challenge, but it simply boiled down to doing each task my doctors told me to do. And taking a lot of naps. Raising my son came down to spending each day with him, making the best decisions I could in each moment (naps helped with that, too). Writing a book was done one paragraph at a time.

Sometimes tomorrow seems scary and daunting. But I’m living in today. Or at least, I should be.

Sometimes I’m not. Sometimes I waste so much energy procrastinating a large project that scares me, that not only am I filling tomorrow with that large project, I’m also letting the dread of it fill today. So I’m not enjoying today or tomorrow. And that’s a waste of days.

Don’t let a fear of tomorrow ruin your today. Live intentionally in the moment that you’re in. Find the piece you have to do now, and do it. Then relax. You’ll take care of tomorrow’s bit tomorrow. For now, it’s in God’s hands.