So you have had this great idea in mind for a while, this goal that means the world to you and these resolutions that you have been procrastinating with. You are trying to have it all together first and formulate a full game plan before you start. You have come face to face with over analysis paralysis - a huge bump in road that you just can't seem to get over. "I'll just do it tomorrow instead. Better yet, next week", you tell yourself. Before you know it, the year will have passed you by without you making much or any progress. If this is you, I have a challenge for you.
Challenge: JUST. START.
Truth Moment
Trust me, this launch is long overdue and I had to give myself the same talk that I am about to give you. I have wanted to create a blog like this one for years now. I have even created blogs in the past, only to give up on them before I even gave them a chance to be seen or to flourish. Finally, I created this blog in May 2018 but I did not publish it immediately because I was honestly apprehensive and scared of what the outcome would be. I was not sure if my blog was good enough, creative enough, special or unique enough, or even ready to be published despite how hard I had worked on designing it. I had a general vision and some blog post ideas but I hadn't fully curated all of the information I wanted to put in these posts or the order in which I wanted to post the entries (perfectionism at its best). Furthermore, I thought to myself "Who do you even think you are trying to start a blog? You are no expert on blogging or on life. You're still learning and you're a hot mess." All the "what ifs" started to flood my mind as well. "What if you say the wrong thing?" "What if people misinterpret your message and you go viral and fall victim to cancel culture?" I felt like I was not equipped enough and I felt like I had to wait until I really had it all figured out to start my journey.
The irony of the situation is that although within this past year so much has changed for me as I have started pursuing a Master's degree in Counselling Psychology and I have learned so much about myself and about life, I have still struggled with feeling like I am not equipped enough and I have still tried to talk myself out of my goal. I have also struggled with procrastination as I found excuses such as "I'm too busy/too tired right now to focus on that." which ultimately were what took me so long to finally get the blog up and running.
Clearly we are all in this boat together, haha. Be encouraged.
However, I decided to take a leap of faith and take the same advice that I am about to give you.
Make a Move!
Take your dreams & goals off of the back burner. The good news is, it's not too late to start.
If you are anything like me, you have many goals and aspirations and instead of just taking action, you tend to just sit on the sidelines waiting for a guarantee of success, waiting to obtain this detailed map of every single step you will have to take and when you're going to have to take them. You want it to be safe and predictable. You definitely don't want to jump into the uncertainty and the unknown. You keep yourself stuck in limbo, in this painful emotional state and instead of progressing or expanding you are stagnant and almost feel crippled as you are always doubting yourself. You are putting your purpose in life on hold and it just gets worse and worse. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is changing so fast that a single precise vision of the future does not or cannot exist. The reality is that as you take steps you will encounter obstacles, most of which you will never be able to predict and if you're just waiting to be sure that every single step is there, you will never take off. Furthermore, the more you think about all of the steps you may have to take or all of the things you may have to encounter, you will overwhelm yourself and then you will never make a move.
The key is to BUILD MOMENTUM. Start now and build momentum. Get your name out there, make your interests known, get your practice in, everything else will come in time. Opportunities will find you. Baby steps. Also remember that a lot of the skills that you are going to need are skills you will learn on the job as opposed to things you can prepare beforehand. So just start. Unfortunately for those of us who love to be completely in control of every situation, a lot of what you will need to know you will have to learn through trial and error.
Get used to uncertainty. Get used to walking into the unknown. I know it is scary at first, but until you actually take action, you will be forfeiting a great deal of opportunities. Don't overthink messing up. Ask yourself, "Is the worst case scenario really that bad?". We are always so hung up over making the right decision or not making the wrong decision, but the truth is that in many instances, there is no such thing as right or wrong, there is just your choices and the path your choices lead you to. It's all a learning process. No matter what you do or what the outcome is, you will learn something which will help to elevate you to the next level. Even if you make what you deem to be the "wrong" decisions or "wrong" moves, it is all still teaching you what you need to know to get to where you want to be. Remember that learning what not to do is progress too.
Take the challenge. You won't regret it.
Get Inspired
"Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling, but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just... start." - Ijeoma Umebinyuo
"Ideas don't come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started." - Mark Zuckerberg
"The idea of a single eureka moment is a dangerous lie that makes us feel inadequate because we feel as though we haven't had ours yet and it prevents people with seeds of good ideas from ever getting started in the first place." - Mark Zuckerberg