Wishful thinking doesn’t make things happen, except in fairy tales and that old Twilight Zone episode, The Man in the Bottle (and that was more of a be-careful-what-you-wish-for cautionary tale). What makes things happen is passion-driven, good, old-fashioned work. I’m certainly no stranger to or afraid of passion-driven, good, old-fashioned work, but sometimes, staring straight into a mountain of a job overwhelms me, wears me down, tires me, and renders me stuck in inaction.

I also operate with the proverbial 1,000 tabs open at any given time creative brain and an inherited ability to start a half-dozen projects while working on the task at hand. Squirrel. So, I have to tell myself to focus on the task at hand, repeatedly.

The task at hand is a mountain of a job. I’m still shopping that non-fiction book proposal, trying to land a traditional publisher. Butt (sorry, couldn’t resist), that’s not enough. I need an author platform to continue presales and to demonstrate to a publisher that the book will sell, because the fact that this cancer is disproportionately killing millennials is not enough. Nor is the fact that millennials are the biggest demographic in the U.S. And there’s also all the other kinds of cancers and those who have them and their families who are looking for resources.

Telling myself to focus on the task at hand wasn’t getting it. My new mental mantra for this project is one thing every day. When I told my friend, Shari, this, she said, “You know how you eat an elephant? I said, “What? Wait.” She said, “One bite at a time.”

So far, one thing every day/one bite at a time has yielded the appropriate business structure for continued book pre-sales and sale of ancillary items, such as journal/planners, note cards and pre-printed thank you cards specifically for cancer patients’ needs, and a website that is super close to launching with the first printed runs of the aforementioned items, podcast, newsletter and other features.

I’ve also found one thing every day helps with the work and personal To Do lists.

One thing every day is also a bit like tribbles. One thing becomes, two, three, four, etc. My one thing today on this book project turned into tax guy setting up the business, follow ups with the website guy and printer, and this long-overdue update. One, two, three, four.

A favorite one thing every day is to touch base with a friend. Sometimes, that one thing every day is life changing.

The point of all this is to save lives. Get screened and advocate for your health like your life depends on it, because it does.

Five, six, seven, eight, going to bed a little late, but totally worth it. So very grateful for at least one thing every day.