Stop Waiting for Monday: The Power of Starting Small

Last night, we decided that tomorrow we would finally start organizing the house. But today is already Wednesday, and as everyone knows, Wednesday is not a day for starting things. So we’ll wait until Sunday. And if Sunday happens to fall right before a holiday, we’ll wait until Rosh Chodesh. And somehow, gently and almost without noticing, an entire year goes by.

There is a hierarchy of dates, by the way. Sunday is beginner level. Rosh Chodesh is already serious. “After the holidays” is the world championship.

Why We Wait for the Perfect Time to Begin

Before we accuse ourselves of laziness, it is worth knowing that this is not just something we made up. The phenomenon has a name, and there is interesting research behind it.

In 2014, Katherine Milkman, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, published a study examining when people tend to start pursuing goals. She and her colleagues tracked Google searches for the word “diet,” gym attendance, and activity on a website where people commit to personal goals and put money on the line.

The same pattern appeared in all three places. The biggest increases consistently occurred at the same kinds of times: at the beginning of the week, at the beginning of a month, after a birthday, and after a holiday. The researchers called this the “fresh start effect.”

The Problem With Waiting for a Fresh Start

If it works, what is the problem?

Let’s say we wake up on Sunday at six in the morning, determined, prepared, and armed with a list. Then the toddler throws up on the shirt we just managed to put on, the oldest discovers she has no socks, and suddenly the clock says 7:40.

The fresh start gets postponed until next Sunday. And in the meantime, six glorious days open up in which we are completely free from guilt.

Hillel the Elder put it perfectly two thousand years ago: “Do not say, ‘When I have free time, I will study,’ for perhaps you will never have free time” (Pirkei Avot 2:4).

Don’t wait for the moment when everything finally falls into place, because that moment may simply never come.

All You Need Is an Opening

Our Sages also taught: “Open for Me an opening like the eye of a needle, and I will open for you an opening through which wagons and carriages can enter” (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 5:2).

We are not being asked to open a gate. Not even a door. Just a tiny opening, as small as the eye of a needle.

The important thing is to begin. To take one small step right now.

Make the First Step Smaller

What does that look like in practice? Make the beginning so small that it no longer needs a special date.

The first step can seem almost insignificant, but it already changes something fundamental: we are no longer waiting to begin. We are already in the process.

Instead of, “After the holidays, I’m finally going to get organized,” organize one drawer right now. Instead of, “Starting tomorrow, I’m going to study halacha,” learn one halacha right now. Instead of, “From now on, I’m going to pray with concentration,” say one blessing slowly and mindfully today.

A beginning that takes four minutes does not need a Sunday morning. It only needs four minutes.

One Drawer Is Still a Beginning

Yes, one organized drawer in an entire messy house may seem ridiculous. It is a little like painting one wall and announcing that you have renovated the house. No one is going to post a story about a single organized drawer.

But it is still one more organized drawer than you had yesterday. And that is already more than all those “I’ll start on Sunday” resolutions ever accomplished.

We’ll organize the whole house later. Or maybe we won’t.

But the drawer? We can organize that now.