The Fear of Starting
Had to put my Photoshop skills on display, ya know?
There are three things in this world that terrify me more than anything else:
Clowns,
Heights,
And starting new things.
I touched on that last one a little in my first blog, but I wanted to dive deeper into the monumental effort that it took for me to embark on the journey I’m currently on, because it took quite a while to start. How long you ask?
EIGHT. MONTHS.
It took me 243 days to just pack up the courage and decide that maybe, just maybe, I should explore the world of photography and filmmaking because I was fascinated by them growing up. While I was incredibly passionate about those mediums, I had no clue where I should even start.
And that’s what terrified me.
After I saved up enough money, I finally pulled the trigger and bought my first camera. I felt like I was being asked to operate a plane when I held it in my hands for the first time. The number of buttons and dials on it was dizzying, to put it mildly.
Once my anxiety finally subsided, I was able to work my way through hundreds of YouTube tutorials to learn how to work the camera and to learn the basics of photography and filmmaking. Yet, I simply couldn’t stop thinking about the level of elite YouTubers like Peter McKinnon, Yes Theory, and Niklas Christl when I first started. And yes, I was scared to start because I knew my work wouldn’t compare to theirs (which is why it took me eight months to take the leap).
So, I decided to jump head first into creating my first video to understand the intricacies that come along with video production. As expected, the quality of the video was absolute 💩 and it took every iota of courage in my being to publish it.
“What will people think?” … was the only question on my mind the entire time. To my pleasant surprise, people were either too busy with their own lives to care about my mine, or they were incredibly supportive of my new endeavors, regardless of how unfavorably I viewed my own work.
Beyond that video being one of the cringiest things I’ve ever done, it also taught me the most. From brainstorming, scripting, shot-listing, filming, editing and publishing, I came to appreciate the mind-numbing effort that YouTubers and filmmakers put into their craft. It was genuinely one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Yet, it was also one of the most fulfilling.
Being able to come up with an idea, flesh it out in a creative way, and then bring it to life is nothing short of magical. Anyone who has completed a project from scratch, whether it be carpentry, arts & crafts, videos, photography, or any other creative medium, knows that intoxicating feeling of finishing a project you have put your blood, sweat, and tears into.
But here’s the caveat (at the risk of sounding like captain obvious): you won’t know that feeling unless you start.
Regardless of how many good ideas you get, they’re all useless unless you actually execute on them. Embracing the fact that what you will create early on in the process is going to be garbage is the only way to get over the fear of starting.
What’s even more important is not to let perfectionism take over, because that’s the fastest way to second guess yourself out of every idea and project you had in mind. I know that because I’ve already passed on dozens of ideas just because I don’t have the skills to make them match my vision.
To this day, I still find ways to convince myself not to do certain projects because it’s easier for me to come up with stupid excuses rather than follow through on them. That’s why I always try to lower the stakes by making the project simpler and breaking it into bite-sized chunks.
Lower stakes = easier to start.
Next time you feel you’re unable to start:
Make it simple.
Create garbage.
And remember, no one really cares.
So get up, dust yourself off, and get on that on project you’ve been putting off. It’s only through churning out bad work that you will inevitably create good work, whether you like it or not.
