Analysis Paralysis — the Pariah of Creativity Killers
And imposter syndrome — the red-headed step-sister of disdain.
Your ideas
Are great.
Every single one of them.
Whoever is reading this has had a passing idea at one point in time that was unique, checked all of the boxes of modern day problems that would be cured by this idea, and in turn — would create a viable, enjoyable income source for you— all the while assisting people to lead better lives.
But somewhere along the line … you grew anxious about your ability to start that blog, your ecommerce store, or your lead generation website, so on, so forth.
“I can’t write as well, or, run a business as well as this blogger” or “I don’t know the first thing about running an Amazon FBA store” rings through your mind like a thousand mental loops trying to persuade you to quit before you start — so you stop.
You stop, and then you start to question your abilities to begin with — “What made me think that I could swing this? Even if I start I’m only going to fail with time. And then all of this effort will have been for nothing”
As you can see analysis paralysis starts the beating and imposter syndrome kicks you when you’re down, affirming your perceived inabilities and anxieties.
What do you do now?
You switch gears.
A shiny new object comes into view and becomes the forefront of the same repeating loops of fantasy that will never meet reality because the two principles mentioned above turn you into a chicken shit.
“A you tube channel sounds like a great idea!”
*Proceeds to do heavy research without actually starting to film for a week and sees listicle on how someone made 10K in one month from wholesaling real estate*
“Forget this you tube channel, I’m going to make money wholesaling!”
*After 4-days sees article on Medium about how some girl on Tik Tok made 200K farting in jars — true story — but good luck with that if you think you can replicate this.*
The burnout that comes with all of this
Is real.
I don’t think we recognize the emotional toll that trying to build a business online has on us. It is work before anything else. From what I’ve read, many people convince themselves that you should try something you enjoy or for ‘fun’.
The way we fall into the traps laid out by analysis paralysis and imposter syndrome is by other’s success umbrella that leaves ours in its silhouette.
We constantly switch gears because it’s easier to change it up than to stick with the same thing and suck at it before you reach the white moment of clarity and competence.
Recognize the pattern
Great and original idea — analysis paralysis embedded into research of topic — minimal effort due to perceived inabilities by imposter syndrome — see article of someone else’s success with high conversions — move on to that idea.
Rinse and repeat.
I am by no means a measure of success and I still grapple with these two every now and again.
I still weave between ideas, become trapped in someone else’s shadow, and am easily influenced by results without the work.
I wrote for 2 years inconsistently before ever sharing my writing with the world.
I only started on Medium a few months ago.
I still pause/halt myself before publishing because I’m unsure if it’s good enough. Sometimes I don’t start writing at all.
I’ve wanted to start a travel blog for at least a year and only wrote one article on Medium.
And, I’m writing this for myself as much as I am everyone else. It helps me to divulge what stops me in my tracks, and the pain points I need to acknowledge to push me forward.
The interconnectedness of humans is something that can’t be ignored. So, if I’m dealing with this on a daily/weekly/yearly basis — I’m sure you are too.
Recognize the patterns — action today is better than nothing at all — if you keep following the same formula, well, the next idea will be but another failed ‘what could have been’
Thank you for reading,
