How to Start
We often come up with an awesome idea and then we make it so big that we sabotage ourselves into not creating it.
Because big is scary.
And procrastination is nothing but fear.
For example, I had this idea for a little mini-course.
I started to plan and outline it and gather ideas and suddenly it turned into a big course that would take me weeks and months to create.
So I ended up procrastinating and putting it off.
Our minds like to think about all the steps ahead instead of just focusing on the first one. Which is usually the most uncomfortable one, because we would actually have to start, get out of our heads and take action.
This poem by one of my favorite poets these days reminds me to stop procrastinating by making things too big, by planning too much.
It reminds me to keep things simple and to just take the first step, do the first thing that gets me closer to create the big idea - and actually finish it.
START CLOSE IN
By David Whyte
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes a
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.