As the semester draws to a close, I find myself looking forward to the summer break with longing, but feeling the pressure as final projects and last minute assignments draw closer to being due. With so much work on my plate it seems easy to become overwhelmed, to just want to say, “I’m done, I can’t do any more … I don’t even know where to start.”

There are many times when we feel a task is too great or too difficult to accomplish, when time is not our friend and we feel there is no way we are going to succeed. Everything keeps piling up and instead of getting work done, we fret over how we are going to manage it all, wasting valuable time.

Ancient Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism Lao Tzu once wrote, “A journey of a thousand miles must start with a single step.” There are no tasks too great they can’t be done, all it takes is that first step to get started, and then taking that “journey” one step at a time. Instead of looking at the whole, take it piece by piece and work towards a destination.

Sometimes the hardest part of any journey is that first step, but, in the words of motivational speaker Jim Rohn, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”

Stay motivated and no task will be too great. Be willing to take that first step and the steps that follow will become easier. No task gets done on its own, but rather by one’s desire to get started.