Just start.

Is it ever really as bad as you feared?

Think about it…starting the workout program. Diving in headlong on a project that you’ve put off for a while. Having that heavy conversation with a loved one.

They’re all things you have to do. Things you NEED to do. But your brain and anxiety have teamed up to throw the biggest mental roadblock possible to prevent you from doing it. For whatever reason, and I’ll leave the analysis of anxiety to the professionals, that unknown just makes the idea of doing the thing, paralyzing.

And then…call it the Divine, kismet, life, the cosmos, whatever…something happens that pushes you into doing that thing. Maybe you finally worked up your own courage. Maybe a loved one convinced you that you couldn’t stall any longer. Perhaps you saw the consequences of any additional moment of delay. Regardless, you did the thing. And it turns out, it wasn’t anywhere close to the catastrophe your mind built for you.

Leadership comes with all sorts of difficult choices and challenges that you’re expected to navigate; it’s just part of sitting in the big chair. Mark Twain has been quoted, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Take the first step. Worry about the next step once the first foot is firmly planted on the ground. I truly believe that inaction can sometimes cripple an organization much more quickly than wrong action can.

I feel like this can be applied to all sorts of challenges we all face daily, but especially to the larger ones. Have the difficult conversation. Tackle that issue that your organization has been putting off. It’s not going to go away on its own. You don’t have to eat the entire elephant in one sitting…just take that first bite.

This blog post is my first “start”. I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time, and life just “life-d” itself in the way. I’d challenge you to do the same: what is something you’ve been putting off (for whatever reason), and how can you take one single step toward completing it today?