Taking the First Step; It’s Difficult and it’s Easy
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” — Martin Luther King Jr.
Every journey, every adventure, every projects, starts with one step.
We all have dreams we want to pursue, big life project we want to accomplish like side hustle, write a book, open a business, ask someone out, be a speaker, inspire other people…i mean, there are so many things we want to do, but we never start.
Why ?
Because we thought about it in advance, we have the sense that it will be tough, that at the end, we are not perfect enough to start, or it’s not yet the right time, so we postponed…so many reasons to not start. Most of the people have been there, included me; most of the people has always a reason why they don’t start :
- You want to write a book but you don’t have contact with a publisher, so you don’t start writing.
- You want to record a song, you don’t have contact with labels, so you give up.
- You want to write a blog post, but you are too afraid to put it out there, so you don’t write (This was me before writing this post :-))
- and the list goes on and on…..
Yes, so many reasons to not start because you see the path you’ll have to take, you see how the road will be long, difficult, all the hassle, sometimes painful and stressful, you see all that and you freeze.
But you see, let me tell you something you already know :
Every best sellers books, every successful companies, every successful entrepreneur, they all start where you are right now; but instead of stay frozen, instead of trying to think all the way through at the beginning, they take a single action, they take one step, the first step.
All you need to do, is taking the first step.
It doesn’t have to be the right one, it doesn’t have to be perfect, dont think about it, just take that first step, that first action which will be the starting point of your adventure.
Don’t try to figure all out before starting; of course you can put together, a plan, a business plan, a todo list, everything you need for planning, but…all of that will means nothing and will lead you nowhere if you don’t pull that trigger, if you don’t start with the first action.
But it’s difficult, you’ll say.
Of course it’s difficult; the first step is difficult, but you take it anyway, you’ll see along the way that it was worth it, and then, the other steps will just have to follow. Don’t try to figure all out perfectly, it will all be clear in due time.
The first step is EASY :-)
The first step is difficult to take, but it’s easy to figure out what it is.
Let’s see :
- You want to write a book/blog post, you already know the general idea : take your notebook and your pen, and start writing your thoughts; it doesn’t have to be perfect, you just have to write it all down and you will figure out later how to make sense of all that :-)
- You want to sell things online but don’t know where to start : you could start by checking Amazon FBA, Shopify or Ebay.
- You have an idea of a mobile application : draw the first sketch of your app idea, open your favorite IDE, create the sample code for your project and start putting blocks together.
- You want to lose some weight: start reading and learning about diet.
- You want to be a fashion model but don’t know where to start : you could contact a photographer, build your book and send it to agencies for a start.
The first steps are like climbing a mountain or walking on a big endless staircase : don’t look at the top immediately, instead, just put your foot in front of the other while going forward, repeat that, and you’ll start to notice, step by step, foot by foot, it’s becoming clearer.
Whatever your first is, just take it, you’ll never figure all out at once; taking the first step is “going towards the unknown”; it’s afraid you, it’s scary, but it’s ok, just move forward, each step at a time, at your own pace.
Know this, your first step doesn’t need to be huge, it just have to happen, yep…just have to happen; that’s what i’m telling myself right now while i’m writing this post.
My first step start with this post :-)
I have never write a blog post before; but as someone who love reading and learning, everyday i stumble across new idea, new quotes that inspire me through that day, so something in me start to grow and the need to tell you what i have to say was beginning to be so strong that here i am; i started by looking for what i want to say, i then gather my thoughts in my notebook and then i looked for a good place to start talking to the world; since i’m an active Medium reader, it was obvious that my choice would be this platform. In that moment of me writing, i realise “well, i can’t backdown now, let’s go and see what will happen”.
You and me can’t know what will happen after taking that first step, but step by step, it will all be clear.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” — Steeve Jobs
If you enjoy my first step, don’t hesitate to give some clap :-)
What are the first steps you are willing to take today? What are the first steps you already taken? Share with us
