I’m learning that every little start counts.

Every time I’ve worked on building habit, I’ve almost stopped before I began, because I knew it wouldn’t be enough just to start. And I knew that the start would not be my best. 

I was talking with my friend yesterday about the process of writing. He’s been challenged to write a book for a long time, he’s got a lot of content, he reads a lot, he’s got the ability and the capacity to do it—if he wants to. 

As we were talking, he mentioned something that someone else had said to him. “The problem you have is that you want your first book to be the masterpiece. And because you’re afraid it won’t be the masterpiece, you won’t start.”

Fear is keeping him from starting.

Sometimes fear keeps me from starting.

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” – Stephen King

Once you start, you can keep going.

It reminds me of the lay of motion, an object in motion will stay in motion, unless there is an opposing force. A writer writing will stay writing.

It doesn’t mean you can sit down one day and write out your entire book. But it does mean that the most important way to keep going is to start.

That’s how I felt this morning. I came to a blank page. I stared at if for a while. I have my book of ideas, my list I can reference when I’m not sure what to write about, but today I didn’t reference it. I almost did. Instead, I looked away from the blank page, stared at the keyboard, took a deep breath and started writing.

Now I’m halfway through the first page.

“It’s not enough.” I hear my brain say over the clicking of the keyboard. It will never be enough.

I looked away from the blank page, stared at the keyboard, took a deep breath and started writing.

And it’s right. Just not complete. Whatever I can put on the page isn’t about the masterpiece, it’s about doing the work, putting words on the page, getting my thoughts on paper. Before I can build the masterpiece, I’ve got to just simply write. 

I just need to do it. 

A word becomes a sentence. A sentence becomes a paragraph. Paragraphs become chapters. Chapters become books.

I may not be able to write a book, but I know I can write a word. If I string enough words together they will become a sentence. Then the group of sentences becomes paragraphs. 

You see the hope in this?

So where do we go from here? How can we break over the wall that keeps us from starting? How can we overcome the fear of the start?

I’m not sure what it will be for you. But here’s something that’s helped me: Showing up.

I have a whiteboard on my wall just off to the top right corner of my desk. On it, it says, “Keep showing up.” This year I knew that if I wanted to keep growing I just needed to keep showing up. If I showed up—to work, my writing desk, my reading chair—I knew I would get started.

Once I got started, I knew I could continue.

But the scariest part is always right before the start.

I shared recently that I read On Writing by Stephen King. Such a good book. He ends the book summarizing why he wrote it—

“This book…is a permission slip; you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.” – Stephen King

Do you want to start? You can. 

Do you want to continue? You will.

---

Subscribe for more posts like this

---