Have you ever tried to learn a new dance step or an aerobic workout? This is hard for me; I have two left feet. I once won an award for being the most improved aerobically challenged person in the class. Same goes for learning a golf swing or how to cast a fly rod. The first time you do it, things just don't feel right. The muscles in your arms and legs just don't go where you think they should. The problem isn't with the muscles in your arms and legs; it is with the muscle that is between your ears.

Your brain is what works those muscles, if you have not got the movement choreographed in your head, your limbs will not follow, because you have not given them the directions.

One time I learned a distance-casting technique in the rain, riding in a car. Once I put every movement into place in my mind, my arms and legs were happy to follow through. I got out of the car and performed it without a flaw. I had practiced it over and over in the car. I had developed a rhythm, and the rest of it flowed into place.

This is why. I don't want you to try to do a full-blown routine to start with. Baby steps and small routines will reinforce your routine rhythm and your dance will glide you through your daily rounds.

Do you see how adding new steps as the first items become automatic will help your rhythm? You will have confidence in the part you know and adding a new portion does not seem so difficult.

This is exactly how I established my routines; one habit at a time. You can do this too. I don't want you to stumble and fall because you don't have the dance steps down pat. Practice and having your steps written out on paper will help you more than anything. Decide which steps are your lead steps. You all know what they are by now.

1. Keep your sink clean and shiny

2. Get dressed to SHOES, hair and face first thing in the morning.

3. Lay out your clothes before you go to bed.

Then as these become automatic, add swishing and swiping the bathroom and other items, one at a time. Baby steps are the key.

You have tried the all-or-nothing system, and it does not work for sidetracked people. We do too much too fast in order to see immediate results. Then we crash and burn, having failed again. I don't want you to fail. I want for you what I have: peace. And this peace came by practicing the steps to my routine. Now I glide through my day and the rhythm of my routines keeps me dancing to my FLYing Music.

Put on your dancing shoes and come fly with me.

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Marla Cilley, a k a FlyLady, is the author of Sink Reflections (Bantam Books Trade Paperback). For more help, please go to: www.FlyLady.net. © 2006