0. Start Before You're Ready
Do I feel ready to blog in a reality where the digitally published word casts a permanent shadow?
Not really.
Do I feel ready to write a screenplay when the last piece of fiction I wrote was in middle school?
Nope.
Do I feel ready to talk about writing an untitled, yet-to-exist screenplay on a public forum?
Definitely not.
And yet…here we are.
10 days ago, I joined Seth Godin’s Marketing Seminar, and I’ve been charging through life ever since. In the seminar, each student has to choose a marketing project to work on throughout the course. It was a struggle to figure out what product or service I wanted to base my work around. I’ll get back to this.
A couple days later, I woke up with an epiphany—I started to imagine the possibility of a film highlighting the socioeconomic costs of childhood exposure to trauma. Moments later, I actually created a document called “Untitled Screenplay” and jotted down my initial thoughts. (I know. Dramatic shift in topic. But I’ve been exploring the topic of trauma through The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and It Didn't Start with You by Mark Wolynn. These books have transformed my understanding of how trauma has shaped me and those around me.)
I felt ridiculous creating that “Untitled Screenplay” document. Who am I to think I can write a screenplay, especially one on as complex and sensitive a topic as developmental trauma? But I started anyway.
Then, in an unexpected turn of events, I decided to use this screenplay idea as my marketing project for the seminar. With some self-coaching and an encouraging nudge from a good friend, I put my internal resistance and doubt in the backseat and, again, started anyway.
Yesterday, I published my preliminary, unfinished thoughts out there in the world for countless others to see. And today, here on this newly-formed blog, I’m doing the same.
This all leads me to the first key lesson I’ve garnered from engaging with the Marketing Seminar’s resources and community of wonderfully engaged students:
Start before you feel ready to start.
1. You may never feel ready.
Our brains have fantastical ways of anticipating and resisting discomfort. Doubts, fears, anxieties, and hesitations all keep us firmly situated in a stagnant status quo. Starting something when you don’t feel prepared is decidedly uncomfortable. It feels like a risky leap into the unknown where you’re vulnerable, exposed, open to judgement. If you're anything like me, you’re pretty good at rationalizing your way out of a potentially intimidating situation. Maybe after I do some more research. Maybe after I see what other people think. Maybe after I’m well-fed and well-rested.
Instead, I’ve been reframing: Any contraction you feel around not belonging or not being qualified is really a gift. It’s the gift of knowing that you’re on a path of incredible expansion. Growth requires discomfort. You are courageous. Start anyway.
2. You may never feel legitimate.
In the Marketing Seminar, “Lesson 0” is Overcoming Fear. I wrote about feeling imposter syndrome, particularly in the creative industry but also before anytime I hit publish. I don’t quite feel legitimate claiming to be a creative, a designer, a blogger, let alone a screenwriter. Where are my credentials? I have a BA in International Studies. Whatever your internal monologue is, you may also struggle with feeling legitimate.
It may seem a little “I’m bringing you down with me”, but the thought that brings me solace is that everyone feels like an imposter. As Seth Godin writes about on his blog, everyone is an imposter:
You're not imagining that you're an impostor, it's likely that you are one. Everyone who is doing important work is working on something that might not work. And it's extremely likely that they're also not the very best qualified person on the planet to be doing that work.
You are an imposter. So am I. Start anyway.
3. You may never feel motivated.
The good friend I mentioned earlier sent me this video about how the initially boring task of drawing the same thing every day ended up sparking inspiration.
A stereotypical portrayal of the creative process is a moment of inspiration followed rapidly by action. And yes, maybe that will happen occasionally. I suppose I did write about waking up with an epiphany. But in general, waiting around for lightning to strike isn’t ideal. If you don’t feel motivated to start whatever it is you’ve been avoiding, try starting anyway. Choosing to do something even when you don’t feel like doing it (ex. exercising before work) becomes easier and easier as you experience the benefits (ex. beginning your workday with a rush of endorphins). Action comes before motivation.