Everything is kind of paralyzing. Have you ever felt this way?

You get crazy excited about a new something, spend an entire day (or three) dreaming it up, and then stop. You starting thinking about where you are now and what you need to do to get to that goal and the overwhelm sets in. You say, “oh, that’ll be on my list for tomorrow,” or “I’ll do that someday.”

This is probably one of my biggest issues when it comes to making things happen. I have all the best intentions, and then somewhere along the line ‘real life’ sets in and I just can’t seem to connect the dots. Instead of starting, I push these new things into my someday pile.

BUT there’s hope!

A good friend of mine once sent along the quote “the first step to getting ahead is getting started.” That stuck with me. How do you push past paralyzing, and get started? Here’s my two biggest tips:

 

ONE

Think of the ittiest bittiest thing you would need to do to get the ball rolling — AND DO IT.

 

For me, starting this newsletter became one of those ‘paralyzing someday’ kinds of things. Three weeks after my new launch, and several people on this list (hi! Thank you!!), I felt that ‘eeeek I have to get started, but I have no idea what to do’ start to set in. Yesterday I sat down, took a couple minutes to gather my thoughts and realized my first step was to hit the ‘make a new campaign’ button. I did it. That small step helped push me in the right direction, and the next thing you know I’m sitting at my computer and making the header for this post. After that, I’m waking up early the next day and sitting down to write this to you all. Taking that first small step towards a goal makes all the difference.

 

TWO

Think progress, not perfection.

 

Did I want to make this perfect before launching? Yes. Did I feel like I needed to make an entire ebook to give away for free before launching to give you all a little something for my gratitude that you are here? Absolutely! Did these things stop be from getting the ball rolling and making this happen? You bet. In order to get this going, I had to do away with the idea of perfection, and realize that any step towards making this happen would be good for now. Starting this newsletter is something entirely new for me. I can’t expect myself to be perfect at it right away. As long as I’m connecting with you all and giving you something to help along your journey’s I know that I’m working in the right direction. My biggest goal for this space is to encourage you all to make your dreams happen. This is my first little step.

With that said, has there been something that you’ve been putting in to your ‘someday’ pile that you’re ready to get started? I’d love to hear! Hit reply and tell me about your dreams and goals. At the very least, I’d love to send some encouragement your way and see if there is anything I can do to help you get started.

If you’re needing an extra daily push, I created this hand-pressed art print for an extra burst of inspiration. I have never regretted hanging up these little reminders, and it’s something that has helped me concentrate on what’s important.

I hope that you’re all having great Tuesdays, and that you have a great and productive rest of your week.

Lots of love,

Kelsey

PS: You’ve got this!

Did you resonate with this post? Well there’s more where that came from in the bi-weekly Pinegate Road newsletter. Sign up in the sidebar and get a look into my creative process — where I’m struggling, and how I’m working through life as a creative professional. Hope to see you there! The next email will go out bright and early Tuesday morning, so don’t miss out.