Break the Cycle and Get Unstuck

Most people have an idea that they are excited about but are struggling to get started.

They spend so much time daydreaming about it but they never take that first step.

In today’s letter, we’ll talk about what you can do to break through some of the psychological barriers that could be holding you back.

First, you might have heard this before, and if you’re anything like me, you’re probably sick of hearing it again.

But it‘s true... you must have the right mindset.

The problem with this vague statement is that it leaves you wondering:

What exactly is the right mindset?

In a nutshell, your mindset is a set of attitudes and beliefs that shape your worldview.

To overcome resistance (resisting doing the work), it’s important to identify some of the attitudes or beliefs that might be holding you back.

1. Lack of Self-belief

Most of the time what’s stopping you from executing your idea is not a lack of resources, but a lack of self-belief.

Even if you’re a confident person, with enough introspection, you’ll find that you’re still doubting yourself in one way or another.

If you wait until you feel ready, you’ll never get started.

The truth is no matter how much you learn, you’ll never feel totally ready.

The fastest way to learn is to get started and figure things out as you go.

2. Fear of Failure

Most people have a certain mental narrative that dictates their actions both consciously and subconsciously.

We create this perfect story in our heads and avoid anything that threatens it.

We like to think of ourselves as winners and tend to avoid engaging in challenges that could prove otherwise.

When you work on something don’t call it a project.

A project can either fail or succeed. Instead, call it an experiment.

The purpose of an experiment is to test a hypothesis.

Regardless of the outcome of the test, you succeed merely by obtaining a result.

When you approach your ideas from an experimental perspective, you are in testing mode and you’re not emotionally attached to the outcome.

As a result, you will have more room to maneuver and develop clarity.

3. Social Pressure

No matter how good you think your idea is, fearing the criticism of others can hold you back from pulling the trigger and exploring your full potential.

Social pressure plays a significant role in shaping our mental narrative.

Not everyone is comfortable being in the spotlight and putting out their work for the whole world to see.

It’s important to be at peace with the fact that your work will never satisfy everyone.

You’ll be criticised and it’s up to you to let that stop you or use it to your advantage.

Use criticism as feedback to improve your work without being emotionally affected.

To succeed at anything, you must overcome social pressure.

Conforming to societal norms at the expense of your freedom to express yourself will make you miserable.

4. Perfectionism

Perfectionism leads to procrastination, and procrastination leads to frustration.

If you get stuck with an idea long enough without taking any action, you have failed already.

Most of the time what’s holding you back isn’t the complexity of the task, but the fear of producing mediocre work.

You’re holding back because you don’t want failure to threaten that perfect story you’ve been building up in your head.

If you’re a perfectionist, you’ll always find an excuse to put your work on hold.

Musicians drag their projects until they can afford a better studio, writers until they do more research, and entrepreneurs until they have more capital or have built a bigger audience.

The circumstances will never be ideal.

Focus on the tools and resources that are available to you now.

You can always refine your work as you go, but you need to get started first or else you won’t have anything to refine.

Whatever you want to do, find a way to do it fast.

You don’t need to be highly skilled to get started. You need to get started to become highly skilled.

If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend.

Until next time, keep creating!

Omara