Starting before I am ready is always a battle. With my impostor syndrome gremlins, my shaking hands, the “benevolent” friends asking me why I bother, the first step is really hard to take. Every single time the battles are won and the voices, shaking and unsolicited, stop the moment I pass the start line.
Battle by battle, we win the war – the war of standing up for ourselves, of building experience that will make the next battle easier, of understanding ourselves and what we can do – always more than we initially thought or the voices told us we can.
If you, like me, suffer from perfectionism, you will never be ready. There is a danger of analysis paralysis which lurks in the shadows of all the pros and cons we put down on paper to help us decide whether it is wise to take the step. It is actually very easy: there are only two possible scenarios when you take the step forward – you succeed and you learn, you fail and you learn. Win, win! So, start before you’re ready. Every, single day.
FROM SHITTY TO WITTY
Blank page panic is a real thing – staring into the blank page and feeling the expectations of amazing iterations petrifying you.
Here are three ideas that help when you get stuck, to start before you’re ready:
1. Start by allowing everything on the subject matter to flow on paper – as Anne Lamott says, start with your shitty first draft. Write like no one is reading. Just write.
2. Take a short break, breathe, move, step away from the writing and then re-read. Look for sense, logic and no repetition.
3. Is your writing saying what you want it to say? Consider the possible interpretations.
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash
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