If you take the time to read about the German writer, artist, biologist, physicist, and all-around highly productive guy Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, you will find that he accomplished quite a bit during his 80-plus years on the planet Earth. And since he lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s, he did it all without a cell phone, iPad, Bluetooth, spell check or any of our modern technological conveniences and so-called necessities.

He was the living embodiment of Larry the Cable guy’s famous saying, in that he could definitely “Get-R-Done” in his many fields of expertise.

Speaking of famous sayings, I believe one of Goethe’s famous sayings clearly articulates how and why he was able to accomplish so much during his lifetime. Here is the saying I am referring to: “Whatever you can do or dream, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

Under the heading of what we in the Certified Public Accounting profession used to refer to as adequate disclosure, this quote is frequently “attributed to” Goethe. According to some literary experts, he may or may not have actually said it. Even if he didn’t say it, it appears that he lived it.

Anyhow, I was thinking of the alleged Goethe quote this weekend when I made a little trip to my attic. My wife and I have been talking about cleaning up the attic for years. I looked around and came to the realization that it was not going to somehow miraculously clean itself up.

So I shifted into a WWGD mode of thinking and decided to tap into the boldness, genius and magic power of beginning. What little thing could we do that might be considered a good beginning to the clean up the attic project? I decided to adopt the same advice I give to people when they decide to clean up their workspace. I often advise them to being with a serious throwaway session. I usually point out that it is irrational to try to organize things that you should not be keeping in the first place. So, I decided that I would begin by throwing away as many things as possible. That was all I needed to do for now. In doing this, I somehow unleashed the magic power that Goethe was talking about.

We definitely had a serious throwaway session. As a matter of fact, it soon became fun. In no time, the throwaway session spread virally to other rooms in the house … and then to the garage … and then to the garage storage room. And to now quote James Brown, “I feel good, like I knew I would!”

It strikes me that Goethe’s advice is one of the best antidotes for procrastination. What can you do to get started on all those postponed work projects? Think about the projects and say to yourself, WWGD?

To borrow and slightly revise another phrase from Larry the Cable guy, “That-there is a good idea, I don’t care who you are!”

Chris Crouch is CEO of DME Training and Consulting and author of several books on improving productivity. Contact him through www.dmetraining.com.