Stuck in a rut, is an old Alabama term, literally  from the days of riding mud trails. It was a deep hole of some length, which made it hard to get anywhere when you get in them.

Sometimes it is just hard to get started on your projects. You sit and think through them time and time again. You reason in your head that you want to do it or want to get it done. But somehow, you look up days later and have done little to make progress, if anything at all.

The discussion has been had at times, that if you do not act on something then you really do not believe in it. I will say that I can’t really argue with the statement; though it really hurts to realize that it might just be the truth.

            I have ideas wrote down for years that I wanted to do, but they had just  been sitting there for a long time, with me making little progress on them. Recently however I have started to work on a project or two. Now I have not made the greatest of progress, but any progress is better than no progress; which is what I was doing.

Here are 5 things that I have learned lately that have helped me to make progress.

*I am writing these tips from the perspective of writing.*

1. Pick one, maybe two things to start working on.
   1. Picking too many things to start will just make you feel stressed before you get started.
2. Define some areas of your project that have values that can be measured.
3. Set times that you can measure the areas and determine what progress that you are making.
4. Do not try to make it perfect the first time through, just get started.
5. Make a set date to be done with the rough draft.
   1. If you do not get done by the date, you will still likely be further along than if you had not set a goal time to be reached.

Hope these suggestions help, what other suggestions would you add?