Start From Where You Are

I’ve been planning to start a blog for the last few months – maybe even the last year, and something always got in the way;

I’m not ready yet, I’ve got nothing to say, I don’t have a database to send to…

Excuses like these can keep us constantly chasing that thing that might just take us somewhere completely different. Somewhere better. Somewhere we actually want to be.

So why don’t we just do it?

I’ve been asking myself that same question for months and without going around in circles (I’m not ready yet) 

The real answer is fear.

Can you relate?

The biggest fear most people have is the fear of failure.

I just read something by Mark Manson that said: 

“You’re not afraid of failing. You’re afraid of being seen failing.”

Failing at something in private won’t often scare you because there is no one watching. And if there is no one watching then there no need for judgement. You give it a go and if you mess up you just move on. But when you know other people can witness the failure, that’s when the fear comes in.

When I think about going live with posting a blog (as well as all the other things I’d planned to go public with after), I can’t help but feel dread about being judged. I’ve been comparing myself to all the other writers out there who have experience under their belt and readers who trust that they have something valuable to say. I have fear that I won’t be as successful as them.

What Mark says is that most people aren’t paying nearly as much attention as you think. Your loudest critics are simply too scared to try themselves. You don’t have to worry about the ones who are already doing the thing you want to do judging you because all they will feel is respect for the effort it took to get you there.

When you really think about it, everyone doing the thing you want to do had to start somewhere. All those other bloggers out there were in exactly the same position I am, and possibly heard the same thoughts currently spiralling in my head. If they went back to their first blog most of them would cringe. Their first post, I’m sure, is nowhere near the quality of the content they are putting out now. But posting that first blog got them to where they are now. 

If people never did the very first thing that brought up so much fear, they would never move forward to the lessons, insight and success that will eventually come their way.

We can wish to be better, have more skills and experience and work hard behind the scenes in the hope that when we finally give it a shot we will be ‘perfect’. But the thing about success: People very rarely are successful on their first try. And failure is actually the stepping stone to achieving all the things we want. 

If you are brave enough to fail, brave enough to fall down, brave enough to put out a shitty first blog – you will open yourself up to the magic that comes only when you try.

I saw an interview with George Clooney where he said: “You learn nothing from success. Never. You learn everything from failing. And fear of failing is what holds everyone back from doing anything.”

He goes on to say that the older you get you will only be mad at the things you didn’t do. To say ‘I think I could have done that but I just didn’t try’ will be harder than if you hadn’t tried to begin with.

So what are you avoiding?

What can you choose to do today that will take you one step closer towards the person you want to be and the life you want to lead?