001 | Just. Start.
Kyle GilboyI’ll begin this “beginning” with a blunt assumption:
That idea you have is slowly dying inside your head.
Not because the idea isn’t good enough, or because you aren’t capable. It’s because you never committed to pursuing it.
I’ve faced this brutal truth in my own life many times over. I thought about getting back in shape. I thought about learning something new. I thought about launching the business. Most recently, I’ve thought about writing a blog; perhaps one day, I’d turn my essays into a book.
These thoughts would stew in my mind as I watched others, up close and from afar, accomplishing the very things I dreamed of. I would place the achievements of others on a pedestal, though they weren’t any smarter or more prepared than I was. I’d feel an emotional concoction of admiration and envy- not because I wanted exactly what they had, but because I knew I could be capable of it too.
The day everything changed never felt significant or dramatic. In fact, I hardly remember the day at all. I didn’t suddenly become brave, or catch myself struck with a brief wave of brilliance. It was much simpler than that.
I started.
I lifted the weight. I opened the book. I brainstormed the business idea. Finally, I wrote the blog post- the one you’re reading now. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a start, and that’s what matters.
If my dreams are hidden at the top of a staircase, the first step of each dream was taken with trembling feet and a nauseous stomach. And that’s okay.
With this metaphor in mind, the gap between the person you are and the person you want to become can be measured in steps. It doesn’t matter which shoes you’re wearing, or how graceful your form was. You made the step, and that makes you ready for the next one.
There won’t be a golden elevator that magically arrives to take you the rest of the way; you will only find another set of steps to take. The steps don’t get any easier to climb, but your proverbial legs will grow stronger and more graceful.
Action is not the reward for clarity. Action creates clarity.
You’ll never have the perfect plan before you take action. Why not? You don’t yet have the perspective to make a proper judgement on what’s “good” in the first place. The musician will practice the same song over and over again to master it. An author will edit a manuscript over and over again, rewriting the same idea in a myriad of ways. A photographer will take thousands of pictures, slowly learning how to compose and adjust the images. Each of these individuals may be a professional in their field, but their knowledge was not innate. It began with a spark of interest and a bold decision to embark on a mysterious path, even if the destination was submerged in dense fog.
American novelist E.L. Doctorow put it succinctly when speaking about his writing, comparing his process to driving a car at night. “You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” And so he did, publishing twelve novels and earning the National Book Award for Fiction in 1986, never knowing what's beyond his headlights.
Of course, there is always the risk of failure. But is it any worse than the risk of hesitation, or the risk of regret? Should failure even be something to avoid in the first place? A wise, green alien once described failure as the greatest teacher, and he might just be correct. Alternatively, the cost of hesitation is risking the loss of momentum, curiosity, confidence, time, and at its worst, the version of yourself you could have been.
So, how do you start? You can start small, you can start messy, but start now. You won't feel completely ready, but you become ready by starting. Don’t worry about what’s at the top of the staircase, or at the end of the foggy path. You’ll figure it out as you get closer.
Ask yourself, what is the smallest step you can take en route to your dream, today? Write it down, then do it.
Today.
Your future self is begging you to take that first step. Not because you’re ready, but because you might just change the course of everything that follows.
-KPG
