What makes it difficult to start a new project, of any kind and any magnitude: a website, a brand, a blog entry? Or how not to be obsessed with how…
Five Things Not to Do 🔗
1. Don’t seek perfection. 🔗
As a child, I was constantly trying to measure up to what I perceived my parents expectations to be. I didn’t yet know that they were proud of me and would likely have loved me just the same with or without a certain level of achievement. I had really believed that without a certain GPA, they wouldn’t have loved me as much or been as proud of me. Perfection was what was expected. Perfection was the goal. And in turn, I didn’t learn the value of practice, failure, hard work.
2. Don’t get caught up in the language. 🔗
After all the time I’ve spent reading, writing, and editing, I can’t help but get caught up in how much words matter. Using this word over that word, putting them in a certain order, it’s enough to make your head spin. And potentially, enough to make you stop writing, stop trying.
3. Don’t plan out all the details… 🔗
Maybe the best way to approach something is to plan it all out. But really, the best you can do is to just do, or at least, try. You try and try until it’s habitual to try. And once it’s habitual to try, you might have accumulated enough experience to figure out how to do better.
4. Don’t then draw out all the details. 🔗
There’s something wonderful about the tactile feeling of writing. But what to write? Well, maybe just write the details that I planned out already.
5. Don’t go do something else that I’m already good at. 🔗
This writing thing is hard. Let’s do something else. Maybe something that doesn’t allow me to look so closely at past attempts and judge them closely. It’s time to sketch letters, practice typing, read more things, learn more things. It’s hard to put thoughts down on paper, isn’t it? It sure is.
Changelog 🔗
- 2021-03-13: Changed title “Obsessed with How” to “How Not to Start.”
- 2017-07-29: Created.