Starting is the Hardest Part

The blinking cursor on a blank document. The empty stretch of land where you’ll soon be building a shop. The new web application your company wants to develop that will revolutionize your industry. These are just a few examples of standing on the edge of something new, something important, yet feeling completely unsure of where to begin.

You might have a vision of the final result—the finished document, the completed shop, the fully functioning app. But that doesn’t mean you know how to get there.

It’s easy to get lost in the variables and the endless possibilities. What if I make the wrong decision? Are there more resources out there? What do other people think? Should I read more articles? Watch more videos? Seek more advice? What if I mess it all up?

In every case, the hardest part is starting.

It’s taking that first step. Writing the first sentence. Sketching out the first screen of an app. Nailing the first stakes into the ground—the ones you’ll attach a string to, so you can visualize where your new shop will go.

It’s a commitment to action over hesitation. A moment of bravery that marks the beginning of making something real.

An amazing thing happens when you start. Your mind shifts from a place of endless “what-ifs” to a place of positive motion. You begin to focus on the next steps and real solutions. All the challenges you imagined before starting—that, in many cases, won’t even come to pass—are forgotten. The path ahead becomes clearer, and each small step forward makes your next decision easier.

Does this mean everything goes perfectly after you start? Of course not. You’ll make mistakes, adjust, learn, and pivot along the way.

But here’s where starting becomes crucial: it provides a tangible foundation. It gives you something to measure against, something to refine, something to edit. You might completely change your initial idea, but you wouldn’t have discovered the need to change if you hadn’t started.

Starting is hard, but it’s also the most important part.

Take the first step, even if it feels uncomfortable. You’ll learn more from those first few steps than you will from standing still…wondering what might happen.

Once you start, momentum kicks in. And from there, the possibilities are endless.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Start Anywhere!

Nike’s Just Do It™ slogan was born in an advertising agency meeting in 1988…

According to Wikipedia, Nike’s Just Do It™ slogan was born in an advertising agency meeting in 1988.

For Nike, these words helped propel the company from $877 million in revenue in 1988 to $9.2 billion by 1998.  In 2013, Nike’s revenue was $25.3 billion.

Three simple words.

Of course, it isn’t the words alone.  It’s the call to action implied in these words:

  • Want to run a marathon?  Just do it!
  • Want to run a triathlon?  Just do it!
  • Want to play tennis?  Just do it!
  • Want to learn to oil paint?  Just do it!
  • Want to write?  Just do it!
  • Want to race motorcycles?  Just do it!
  • Want to develop an iPhone app?  Just do it!
  • Want to explore the world?  How about China (where I am this week)?  Just do it!
  • Want to hike the Appalachian Trail?  Just do it!
  • Want to own your own business?  Just do it!
  • Want to try living in New York City (in the winter!)?  Just do it!
  • Want to start a charity to help wounded veterans?  Just do it!
  • Want to build your own house?  How about a tree house?  Just do it!

Three simple words.

Not to be outdone, and to inspire not only Apple employees, but customers they didn’t yet have, Apple came up with a two-word slogan in 1997:  Think Different™.

Two words, grammar error notwithstanding.  Again, it isn’t the words, but the call to action.  If you want to create a new and interesting future, Think Different today.

Think Different.  Just Do It.

To these, I’d add two more words:

Start Anywhere!

Think Different.  Just Do It.  Start Anywhere!

How about two more:  Start today!