Today I’m all about STARTING.
Starting to work on the seeds of a new book idea I’m developing.
Starting to write the website copy for an online class I’m creating.
Starting to clean out my file cabinets to make room for new content.
Starting to read a book that’s been on my queue for way too long.
But sometimes STARTING can be hard. Even when you have a whole day in front of you with no meetings and it’s just you and your computer and your dog at your feet for hours to come.
I know I’m not alone here. I hear from many of my creative clients – writers, artists, entrepreneurs – that STARTING can sometimes be paralyzing, even when what we intend to start is exactly what we want to be doing.
What’s up with that?
Writer Steven Pressfield refers to this force that stops us from starting as the RESISTANCE. Everyone has it, and its sole purpose is to distract us and prevent us from doing our creative work.
In his phenomenal book, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, Steven defines the resistance, where it comes from, why it’s there, and how to beat it. And he talks about the importance of STARTING:
Angels are like muses. They know stuff we don’t. They want to help us. They’re on the other side of a pane of glass, shouting to get our attention. But we can’t hear them. We’re too distracted by our own nonsense. Ah, but when we begin. When we make a start. When we conceive an enterprise and commit to it in the face of our fears, something wonderful happens. A crack appears in the membrane. Like the first craze when a chick pecks at the inside of its shell. Angel midwives congregate around us; they assist as we give birth to ourselves, to that person we were born to be, to the one whose destiny was encoded in our soul, our daimon, our genius. When we make a beginning, we get out of our own way and allow the angels to come in and do their job.
Today I’m going to MAKE A START. It’s the only way to beat the resistance and create.
How about you? What will you START today?