Just Start the Damn Thing

Here’s a hard truth I had to swallow:
It’s not the high-priority stuff that trips me up — it’s the pile of “not urgent, but still important” things quietly muttering in the corner like neglected houseplants.

As founders, we’re used to being overwhelmed. That’s just part of the deal. We know how to rally when a fire breaks out, we know how to kick into gear when something’s mission-critical. But the slow-burning stuff? The admin tweaks, the tool migrations, the overdue documentation, the half-written onboarding doc you told yourself you’d “get to next week”? That stuff adds up — and becomes a silent killer of momentum.

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The Lie We Tell Ourselves

The most dangerous phrase in startup life:
“I’ll get to it.”
Because more often than not… you won’t.

And I’m not judging — I’ve done this countless times. We tell ourselves that the backlog is manageable. That those tasks can wait. That we’ll magically find more time next week.

We won’t.

What’s worse is that procrastination often comes not from laziness — but from mental friction. Something seems like Everest, so you avoid it. You build it up in your head. You stare at it like it’s a beast you don’t know how to tame.

But here’s the funny thing:
Every single time I’ve forced myself to just sit down and commit ten minutes to one of those tasks, I’ve ended up crushing it in half the time I assumed it would take. Ten minutes turns into thirty, and suddenly you’re in flow. The beast becomes a bunny.

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Momentum Isn’t Always Loud

We talk a lot about ripple effects — how even small actions echo outward over time. (Shoutout to our Butterfly Effect entry.) Well, here’s the kicker:

All those “small” tasks you’re ignoring? They are ripples.
And if you compound enough of them, they create real momentum.

Updating your SOPs might not feel urgent, but it saves you an hour a week six months from now.
Finally fixing that wonky email signature? Tiny credibility boost.
Finishing that half-baked blog draft? New leads.

Small tasks are easy to push aside — but they’re also the ones that, when left unattended, quietly build drag.

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The 10-Minute Rule

There’s a technique I’ve started leaning on:
Just commit to 10 minutes.
Set a timer. Open the doc. Start the thing.

The goal isn’t to finish — it’s to break the seal.
Because once you start, your brain stops flinching and starts solving. You remember you can do this. You shift into action mode. You climb a foothill instead of staring at Everest.

(If you're into productivity hacks, this is similar to the “5-minute rule” or the “two-minute trick” — all variations of the same principle: just start the damn thing.)

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Procrastination Is a Liar

It tells you the task will take forever.
That it’ll suck.
That you’ll do it better tomorrow.

It’s lying.

Tomorrow will have its own problems. You’re not getting extra time — you’re just handing your future self more stress. And that person already has enough to deal with.

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Final Thought: Start Small, Scale Fast

Founders often chase big progress. The epic launch. The killer campaign. The game-changing hire. But the real growth? That happens in the small stuff.

The five-minute check-in that prevents a bigger issue.
The onboarding doc that saves hours next month.
The invoice that gets sent without a nudge.

All of these things seem small — until you realise they’re compounding every single day.

Just like bad habits, procrastinated tasks compound negatively.

So next time you hear that whisper — “I’ll get to it” — don’t buy it.
Set the timer.
Start the thing.
Let the ripples do their work.