If You Have 'Starting Trouble,' You're Not Alone
When you see the phrase “starting trouble,” you may be reminded of all the people in your life who are always starting trouble. Perhaps it’s your cousin Sam, who always brings up politics at the family get-together, suggesting that only a dimwit would vote for a particular political candidate.
“Starting trouble” may also remind you of an old car. Perhaps it’s a 1999 Ford Taurus that just won’t start, much to the dismay of your uncle, who is trying desperately to get away from a family get-together where he has just been called a dimwit.
“Starting trouble” may also remind you of a project you’ve always wanted to do, but just haven’t started. Perhaps it’s a book you’ve wanted to write, a self-help book entitled “Keeping Peace with Dimwits in the Family” that might have helped your cousin Sam maintain a better relationship with his dad.
I’m quite familiar with the various types of “starting trouble.” In fact, if you ask my wife, she’ll tell you that I’m an expert at “starting trouble.” Not only do I have no trouble starting trouble, I have trouble not starting trouble. (I would disagree with my wife, but I don’t want to start any trouble.)
From my experience as a parent, it’s clear to me that humans learn how to start trouble at a very young age (5 to 12), master this skill during their early teen years, and earn a PhD by age 18. Some dedicate their lives to starting trouble, becoming professional hackers, streakers or internet trolls. But most realize that it’s just not worth it. They try to keep peace at family get-togethers, resisting the urge to deflate any tires outside or any egos inside.
As for “starting trouble” involving machines, I’ve experienced it all, including cars not starting, lawn mowers not starting and computers not starting. It can be very frustrating when your car doesn’t start in the morning. Take it from me, a longtime driver, the only thing worse than your car not starting is your car not stopping. Public transportation offers solutions, of course. If there’s a bus stop sign nearby, you can drive into it to stop your car. But this is always a last resort, unless you’re trying to start trouble.
I’m also familiar with the “starting trouble” that keeps us from achieving our goals, whether it’s a small goal like “grow peas in my garden” or a large goal like “grow peace in the Middle East.” I struggle with this type of “starting trouble” all the time. I had “starting trouble” writing this column about starting trouble.
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The best way to overcome “starting trouble,” I’ve found, is to tell yourself that you’re going to do only a small part of a task — and nothing more unless you feel like it. When I’m doing laundry in our house and have a lot of clothes to put away, I tell myself that I’m going to put away only 10 items. That gets me started, and I often just get it all done. But if I’m feeling tired or lazy, I stop at 10 items and come back later. By splitting up the task, it increases the chances that my kids will notice that there’s a chore to be done and hide in their rooms until it’s done.
Almost any task can be broken up into smaller parts. That makes it less likely that you’ll have “starting trouble.” For example, if you need to see a dentist but have been putting it off, just write “google dentist” on your calendar for tomorrow. The next day, you can write “click on link.” After that, you can write “read reviews,” followed by “dial the number and quickly hang up before anyone answers.” In a few days, you’ll be able to write “make an appointment for June 2034.” This is how I get all my medical appointments done.