Before You Get Good, Get Something

We often focus on optimizing, balancing, and being as effective as possible with our plans. We fixate on perfecting step five before even taking step one.

It’s like multiplying by zero. It’s useless.

“How can I execute my plan and succeed?” That’s a tough question. Too many options to consider, which makes it easy to procrastinate and avoid starting altogether.

Let’s try inversion for a change:

“How can I ensure I fail?”

• I’d postpone taking the first step as long as possible.

• I’d worry about “upselling” before even figuring out “selling.”

• I’d obsess over the edits for a video I haven’t recorded.

• I’d simply never start.

“How good will the customer service be at the restaurant that never opened?”
“How polished will the edit be for the video that was never published?”

Pointless questions.

There are levels to this game.

Your Perspective Shifts When You Take Action

You’re focused on being the greatest. You want to do impactful work and change lives. You care about every word you write, every video you make, every podcast you release, so much that you don’t ship anything.

But you don’t care.

You’re playing with metaphysics, worrying about things that exist only in your mind. Then you freeze. You talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

The worst anxiety stems from abstractions. Obsessing over something that isn’t real amplifies the fear a hundredfold. Action is the only cure for anxiety. Psychologically, walking toward the problem empowers you and puts you in control.

You can’t optimize if you have nothing to work with. You’re mistaking the anxiety to perfect with the anxiety to act.

Once you take that first step, the path opens—like the sea parting for Moses. Imagine Moses fretting about crossing the sea while still enslaved! It’s absurd, yet here you are, beating yourself up because the thing you haven’t even created isn’t the best it could be.

Fighting Our Bias

We don’t trust ourselves. We underestimate ourselves. We doubt ourselves.

We’re terrified of taking the first step, assuming we’ll be the same person when we take the second, third, and fourth. So we freeze.

We convince ourselves that our expertise won’t grow down the line, not realizing that the moment we take that first tangible step, we change.

The second step looks different— we are not on the side lines, but inside the arena. From the vantage point of the first step, it’s a new perspective. We won’t be the same person. Yet we let our minds dictate our actions over and over. We know we’re biased. We know we should act. And still, we don’t.

The biggest leap of faith and your greatest focus should be your very next step.

Action Points for Me to Learn

• Action is the antidote to anxiety.

• Identify the first step, no matter how small, and take it. Life looks different from there.

• Make a conscious choice to defy our bias. We’re wired to resist action—build a habit of jumping in when fear is at its peak.

• Be aware of overthinking steps beyond my control. Only after taking step one will I know what step two is. Recognize that overanalysing is a coping mechanism—a mask for procrastination dressed as perfectionism.

Stay curious,
Karam