Just Start

When I decided to start a free, daily blog on February 7th, 2022, I had no idea how I would do it. I didn’t know how long it would take each day, how I’d keep finding ideas, and how I’d manage on days when I’m sick, sad, traveling, or busy. I just knew I had to take Seth’s advice, and I had to trust that he was right: “The secret to writing a daily blog is to write every day. And to queue it up and blog it. There is no other secret.”

More than 365 days later, here I am, and as it turns out, Seth was right. I wouldn’t say publishing every day was easy, but I also wouldn’t call it hard. Challenging on some days? Certainly. Manageable on all of them? Absolutely. On some days, I wrote for five minutes. On others, I wrote for three hours. But every day, I showed up, and that’s the part that matters.

“I always come up with stories in my head. Should I try creative writing? Do you think there’s something there?” someone just asked me. “I have no idea,” I told them, “but unless you try, you’ll never know. Just start!” Two words. “Just start!” I think it easily qualifies as my — or anyone’s, really — best piece of advice. I give it again and again, because frankly, most of the time, I really don’t know. If I have no clue how I’ll execute my own plans, how can I know if yours are any good? No idea. Just start!

A woman at my WeWork has been trying to start her own business for three years. “Where do I begin? What do I do? Which idea do I pick?” At first, I tried to help her sort through her options. Now, I’ve given up on strategy. Too soon for that. “No idea. Just start!”

A few years ago, one of my readers sent me an email. “I want to write more but I’m having trouble getting started. When did you start writing? What content did you start with? Did you hold off on publishing? How can I write a book if I don’t know where to begin?” You know where this is going. “No idea. Just start!” Two years later, he was working for me full-time as a writer.

After one year of daily blogging, I could talk about traffic, tactics, and lessons learned all day long. But right now, I feel there’s only one that matters: Just start! Whatever it is, just start. You’ll never regret going home to a project you deeply care about, and even the biggest obstacle on the path isn’t worth worrying about until you’ve taken the first step.

Your email friend,

-Nik