Originally written December 3, 2020.
I’ve stared for many months trying to determine what this blog was going to look like, what it should focus on and who my audience would be. After many months of staring at a blank page, it is time to get off the fence.
I still don’t have answers to any of these questions but after listening to one of Tim Ferriss’ podcast episodes with best-selling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin, something struck a chord with me. He said “Writer’s block is something that exists but isn’t real. What writer’s block really is, is a fear of bad writing.”
I think that is true of so many people wanting to do something but being afraid to fail. Godin makes a good point that not everything that comes out will be good. It’s impossible. The bad has to come out with the good. It all comes down to simply putting in the work. Just writing these words on a page, no matter how bad they are is light years ahead of a blank page.
This blog will evolve over time as I see what works and what doesn’t, who my audience is, and how I feel about my writing. I can’t possibly know what those things look like unless I take step one.
Another author I like is James Clear. He writes about habits and how making incremental changes over time adds up just like compounding of interest. You start with a few dollars in a retirement account but by the time you retire you are a millionaire.
He also says to take stock in the journey. In our society, we are so focused on the end point that we don’t really pay attention along the way. There are so many good things that happen to us that we ignore because we are constantly looking past to the “reward” at the end of the journey without realizing that the journey is the true reward.
If we change our mindset most things in life are not beginning and endpoints they are a spectrum or a continuum that we live on day to day. If you are on a journey say to lose weight where you are today is simply where you are. Where you were yesterday doesn’t matter. If we strive to make incremental changes towards a goal that is where the real success lies.
If you are trying to lose 20 lbs it is simply impossible to do that by tomorrow. However if you wake up tomorrow and you have decreased your weight by 0.2 lbs, you are closer to that goal then you were today. Those are the little successes you need to give yourself credit for along the way.
If you have a setback, that’s ok, that is just where you are today and moving forward, reset and keep striving for the incremental changes that bring you forward.
So no matter what it is you are trying to achieve, start in some very small way to move you towards your goal. Today this is just one blog post. By next week if I stick to the plan and put the work in, I will have two. If that continues to happen, it will become clear what this blog is and who it will be speaking to but none of that is possible without this singular post right here. Now go get off the fence and do whatever it is you want to do.
