I’ve always found a way to not start something. “I’ll start next week.” Or, “I’ll start once I’ve gotten that new thing which make everything easier. But recently I’ve found that there is only one place that I can ever start something, and that place is now.

Now. An Explanation.

What I’m calling now, could also be called the present moment. And if you think about it, it’s the only place we can start anything. I can’t take action next week, in two days, or even tomorrow. Because all of those times only exist as a mind-imagined-future-place. And when that day next week comes, it’s no longer that day next week but now.

Seems pretty simple, right? But it’s surprising how often I find myself thinking about what I’ll do in the future. And then when the future arrives as now, I’m still thinking about the actions I’ll take in the future. So nothing actually happens.

I’ve realised that thinking about creating stuff is not creating stuff.

“I’m not ready yet.”

Is another common thought which can get between me and starting a project.

“I’m not ready yet.” –What does that even mean?

It means that I don’t think I’m ‘ready’ until I’ve reached the stage when I deem myself to be ready. That’s a lot of readies! And this actually sounds kind of reasonable at first glance. However, as many of us know this is just another way of the mind creating more ‘time’ between me and starting.

It does this because it’s afraid of failing or succeeding. – This is a huge topic, and something which will come up in future posts. But for now let’s stick to need to feel ready.

So your mind made up the criteria for when you’ll be ready, but you’ll never reach that stage because your mind can always redefine what it means to be ready.

“Oh! Once I’ve read that new book on creative writing then I’ll understand how to write my short story and then I can start.”

And then:

“Cool, now that I’ve read that book on creative writing I’ve realised how much more I need to learn before I can start writing anything of quality. I better read a few more books on the matter to make sure I’m definitely ready.”

Getting rid of ready, and starting now.

I’ve discovered that I can bypass needing to feel ready by accepting myself completely as I am.

When I accept myself as I am that means I’m accepting everything. All the things which I’m great at and all the things which I’m not so great at.

By allowing myself to just be as I am, I’ve found that there is so much less pressure to produce a certain result, impress someone, or

What acceptance and starting looks like in action.

For me, just writing this article is a huge step away from the I’ll-be-ready-when spiral. And I’m proud of that.

Am I an expert at writing blog posts? Nope, certainly not. Is this post going to rock the socks off people all around the world? Nope. But this article is a reflection of what I’m doing now, and by the time you read this, a reflection of what I did.

In order to write this article I needed to accept that I didn’t feel ready, that I didn’t feel my writing skills were good enough and that you may not enjoy reading it. And by accepting all of these feelings and letting be there, I didn’t buy into them and they didn’t get in the way of me writing this post. I simply acknowledged how I felt and started anyway. And here I am nearing the end of this post.

Starting – a summary.

• The only place we can start is now.
• Starting is taking action. Thinking about starting is thinking about taking action.
• We will always find a way not to start.
• Start regardless of the ready-scenarios your mind creates.
• Completely accepting how you’re feeling enables you to start anyway.

B is for Being. The Journey Ahead.

As you can see, this is the first article on the site, and as with all starts they do not necessarily define the path ahead. The start merely exists as a point from which the next action can take place. Action after action, all happening now.

Even though the direction of the path is unclear at the moment, I do know I have a lot to share with you. I also know I have a lot to learn from you. And as this site is by no means a one-way street. I want to hear from you.

I want to know how you see the world. What things have worked and what haven’t on your journey so far. If you have any feedback, questions, content suggestions – whatever; just send them through to me via the Contact page or Twitter.

I don’t feel ready and the journey has begun!