Why Starting Still Feels So Damn Hard (Even When You’re Ready)
You’re on your treadmill, or out on a walk, wrapping up watching the 9th video when you swore video #8 was *the one*. Then video #10 pops up, making you doubt everything all over again. Fast forward to after your shower and a meal that still doesn’t have enough protein to sustain your Big Age, and now you’re umpteen videos deep. Yet, somehow, you’re more confused than when you started, and mad enough to contemplate letting your idea, ‘your thing’, pass you by – again, wondering if it’s just you.
Procrastination Station
Welcome to OVER-DOING-TOO-MUCH. Well, that’s what I’ve termed it, anyway. I have this written on one of my three whiteboards. Maybe I need to make a poster of it for my office.
But, it’s not. It’s definitely not just you.
Why does starting feel so impossible even when you’re smart, motivated, and overflowing with some juicy ideas? I’m not puffing up egos but think about it, people rarely share horrid ideas. They get the go-ahead from well meaning, supportive friends—the ones who’ll point out any issues or pitfalls—who know your idea is a good one.
The Sinking Spiral to Nowhere is Real
You’re a professional. Know how to manage complex projects, work with inexperienced but talented individuals, and manage teams of people. Well, as much as anyone can manage 10+ adults who aren’t their kids and who you can’t cuss out as easily. How many years have you pulled together last-minute pitches? Made or beat impossible deadlines? And explained away the ones that should never have gotten the green light to begin with.
Or at home, in your personal, you’ve got caught out and yet spread out that last-minute meal for the two uninvited guests who boldly showed up at your door. You didn’t cuss them out but you wanted to, and I’m proud of me… I mean, you. But now you’re staring down your ‘thing’—your passion project. The venture you fall asleep thinking about and is there waiting on you in the morning. But your mind keeps overthinking and watching the cursor just blink.
Just One More Video. One More Post. Then You’ll Start.
Except that video introduces a new tool you didn’t know you needed. You’re scanning the over 100 comments of people professing how this wonder-tool literally saved their business, workflow, and life. So, now off you go to research that. Until another blog post or video pops up, completely dissing that video, and with even greater detail.
Also, it’s Wednesday. And your turn to make dinner, and not only is it later than you thought, you forgot to go to the store. So it’s creative omelets again. But your brain can surely rest now, right? Hell no! Soothing a minor oil burn from the third egg-flip, idea #12 enters the scene. Excitement rises again because this one really could work. It’s needed, you need it, it’s viable. But it also needs a website with an e-commerce theme. A ton more razzle-dazzle video content, and stock footage of overly attractive people pretending they’re not, while showcasing your product. You sigh. You laugh. Then sigh some more.
Here’s What’s Really Happening and Why You Can’t Start
It’s not because you’re indecisive. And no, you’re not dumb, either. Nor lazy or even overly scared. You’ve just oversaturated your brain and you’re conveniently masking: the fear of choosing “wrong.”
Creative Spirals Can Look and Feel The Same
Too many notebooks filled with plans. Detailed ones. Watching what feels like every tutorial, downloading free courses and spending entire weekends trying to make a Canva graphic or video look like the ones that a marketing agency charge thousands for. You’re doing all the background work. Consuming. Preparing. And definitely overthinking, but not really starting.
Then after some more weird dinners, I said out loud what I knew all along, that the feeling of ‘yes, now I’m ready’ was never coming. That tool, app, course, would never be the perfect one. So I went with a fuck-it attitude. Time is short. The world appears nuts right now anyway, so why the heck not. I’m choosing to do it messy, then fixing it as I go. Doing something tiny, but growing each day. Experiencing the frustrations, until those small wins kick in. And slowly but surely, they really do kick in.
Whatever your ‘thing’ is today, more than likely you’ll need to market it in the digital space. And today’s digital speak is… drumroll… Martian.
Using Myself As An Example
I want to publish my first book. But the writing and finishing of it all is merely step 1 of 100. Forget the big-dog established authors—I’m not just up against them. I’m entering the ring with the eBook giants. The well-oiled self-publishing machine. The TikTok-Book-Shop crowd. Not to mention, the I’ve-Got-50K-Subscribers-and-a-Preorder-List community.
But here’s what I keep reminding myself: I don’t need to outshine any of them—I just need to reach the people my book is actually for. And with every AI tool promising to write your 90,000-word book before you’ve finished peeing, it’s no wonder quitting sounds bloody logical. It makes you want to grab a lovely cuppa, your fave coffee, or whatever, and just toss that great idea back in its box to free your headspace.
But that feeling won’t last. Your idea will keep coming back because it’s a good one. And by comeback, I mean at 2:15 a.m. to haunt-slap you. Don’t keep testing it.
Done is better than dreamed may sound like a Pinterest quote, but it’s actually a real way to begin.
Understanding: What Do You Need Right Now?
- Clarity – confirm who you are and what you or your ‘thing’ is about – I didn’t narrow all the way down and pick a niche. Maybe one will come later, maybe not. But I know that and moved on.
- A Website – my blog launched with a theme I don’t really care for. And for too many reasons (read: cash-money), I chose to go with it until a better one presents itself.
- The Socials – my dedicated and de-lovely followers need somewhere to land and see all the glory that is me. So that means, Facebook (yawn), Pinterest (love), Instagram (OK), and TikTok (I’m getting there). From scroller to sharer is a big leap for me, but leap I shall.
- Consistency – the most important. Committing to what you can and will do. I committed to what was real for me in this space and time continuum-matrix. So that’s two posts per week. Same day, same Bat-time, same Bat Channel. (I tried so hard not to type that. Really, I did.)
- A Weekly Newsletter – to hold yourself accountable. Now did I miss a week because I didn’t realize my trial period had ended? Yes. But ‘we listen and we do not judge.’ Especially ourselves.
As I grow, and get better, I’ll be adding a list of what I launched with on my Resources page. But for now, I’m happy that I’m in motion. And motion, not perfection, is what’s getting me (and you) to the next step.
Because Not Starting is the Real Mistake
Starting messy, or starting sideways, as I like to see it, is about not pushing through the fear like a prize fighter but navigating around, under or over it—with what we have and where we are now. Starting still feels so damn hard, even when you’re ready. Even when you really care.
My first blog posts might make me cringe when I look back at them later- or God forbid, next week. No one builds something great without a lot of crazy and weird, at first. Things will be messy until they’re not. The only ‘wrong place’ is not starting at all. Or believing you have to come out of the gate strong and immediately on 10. So pause on that nine-step sales funnel for now. Starting with the basics, getting those right, and then tagging on momentum is the winning strategy, for now anyway.
Clear a Path for Immediate Next Steps
- Pick one idea. Not the flashiest, razzle-dazzle one, but the one you’ve thought about three times this week.
- Open a doc. Any doc.
- Write one paragraph to sketch the layout.
- Draft your ’About Me’ as if you’re telling, not selling, who you are and what you’re about.
Sleep on it. You’ll probably change it a bunch of times, that’s fine. Good, actually.
Ask Yourself:
- Can you start, even barebones, with what you have?
- If yes, what immediately do you need?
- The ‘if I don’t have these things, nothing works’ stuff.
- Make a list from #2.
- If you’ve added that you need a chauffeur to easily drive you to and from your customers… delete that shit, immediately. I see you’ve got jokes, too. Nice. Keep that up!
- Rinse and repeat.
- Get feedback from a trusted source.
- Let them see what you’ve written and how you’re preparing to start.
- They’ll catch anything you’ve missed, so take notes.
- Then with a high-five, dab, or a smack on the back, they’ll ask you why you’re still sitting in their face, and to get going!
