Just start writing

Whether it's writing code or a technical design document, diagnosing an issue, or working on a blog post or a presentation deck, sometimes, the hardest part for me is getting started.

When this happens, I try to find the smallest thing I can do to start the task and get the ball rolling.

This could be just opening Neovim or Notion and finding the smallest task I can do to get going.

In code, it could be making the smallest change to start on the task or committing a small refactoring on another part of the code to get into the flow.

With a technical design document, once I've written the first heading, "What problem are we trying to solve?" and started to describe the problem, it's easy to continue writing the rest of the document.

For a blog post or presentation, I've found that writing the headings first is a good starting point, adds structure and makes it easier to add the main content.

Things are great once the ball is rolling; the question sometimes is, "what is the simplest thing I can do to start it?".

- Oliver

P.S. Need help or want another pair of eyes on your code? Book a 1-on-1 consulting call or an online pair programming session with a 100% money-back guarantee.,

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About me

Picture of Oliver

I'm an Acquia-certified Drupal Triple Expert with 17 years of experience, an open-source software maintainer and Drupal core contributor, public speaker, live streamer, and host of the Beyond Blocks podcast.