When You Don’t Know Where to Start

Sometimes, you simply don’t know where to begin. Especially when you are starting something new, taking your first step may seem to be a daunting task.

Also, thanks to the internet and the information age, we can get tonnes of information on doing something at our fingertips in just a few seconds. The result is that we have a lot of information. Too much to analyse. Enough raw material for paralysis by analysis.

Often, we find ourselves staying stuck, instead of taking the first small step. We keep researching or overthinking whether to do this or that. Quite often, this is our mind’s way of deceiving ourselves. The truth is that we are scared. And that’s understandable.

We don’t want to make mistakes.

We don’t want to fail.

We don’t want to embarrass ourselves in public.

We don’t want to lose and hurt our own opinion of ourselves.

So what’s the solution? What do we do when we find ourselves stuck? Where do we begin when we are clueless?

Here are a few pointers:

1. Take one small step.

In which direction? In the general direction of your goal. It doesn’t have to be super precise. You will get time (and more information) to correct your course.

If it’s a mistake, you can correct it. If it’s not, you can keep moving forward. How will you know whether it’s a mistake or not? Maybe you won’t even know until some time later. Maybe you will only know if you are moving in the right direction when you come across a turn or a dead end.

But one thing is certain. Not moving will not help.

Staying stuck, analysing, researching, contemplating; will not help.

2. Keep moving forward.

Build momentum. Don’t stop. Don’t get back to staying stuck. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. It might be scary. But not as painful as staying stuck and not making any progress.

3. Navigate and course correct.

Observe. Pay attention. Are you moving towards where you wanted to go? Or are you getting further away?

If you keep refocusing in the general direction of your goal, you will keep moving closer and closer to it. As you get closer, you will be able to see more clearly; you will be able to move in the precise direction.

This means you must continue to keep learning the right things from the right sources. Right things are the ones that lead you towards your goals. Right sources are the ones that are originated from the place where you want to be.

Moreover, all the lessons, information and knowledge you accumulated during your journey will now start guiding you to make better choices.

What to do next?

Don’t bother learning about that right now. When you are stuck, the first priority should be to get unstuck. Trying to look too far ahead can be one reason why we stay stuck. So let’s not let that happen.

Take the first step.
Build momentum.
Keep moving towards your goal.