It's Time to Start

First published on October 5, 2017

It seems impossible. A massive task. So much to do. I'm so far behind. It'll take me forever. Forever. How can I start now, when so many people are so far ahead? What's even the point?

These are the things I used to think, the questions I ask myself, or at least I used to.

I thought those thoughts about the Wisdom of David Gemmell, until some coaching from Inga and the work of Steven Pressfield and Seth Godin convinced me that if just one person read it, it would be worth it, and that I didn't have to have exactly how I did it sorted at the start. Then I just started, creating a database of entries on the website one week at a time, sending out tweets one day at a time. And now there are over 100 amazing pieces of wisdom and philosophy on the website, over 1,000 on Twitter, and hundreds of followers and sign ups. Not that many in the grand scheme of things, but they love it, and it makes me proud.

I thought those thoughts with coaching, too. I remember the first consultations I did with potential clients so clearly. I couldn't believe they signed up. And although I thought 'Can I really start a new career again a decade into my working life?', and although I compared myself to people who were better prepared for a career in coaching, or who had already done an impossible sounding 'hundreds of hours', I was convinced, by my own thinking and advice from Ewan, that the coach training would be valuable for me whatever I chose to do, as a career or not. Now I have coached hundreds of people for hundreds of hours, it's the only work I do and I'm much better at it than anything I've done before.

I thought those thoughts with writing. I had a strange pull in me to share myself more, but was distracted by worries. I remember how, guided by Joel, I posted those first pieces. The anxiety and Resistance and all the questions were there. In the end, the pieces were posted. And I kept posting. And now I've written over 60 pieces on LinkedIn, one at a time.

Now people say to me 'You write a lot, don't you?'

No, I think, I just play around with writing once a week. But they're right. And that happened one article at a time.

Now people say to me 'You've been doing this coaching thing a along time now, I'm just a beginner.'

No I haven't, I think, I'm a beginner. But I'm not, and it changed one hour at a time.

I didn't mean to be a writer. I just started writing, because I felt the call, to share myself. Then I wrote, one thing at a time, over several years. And now I am. 

I kind of meant to be a coach. I thought it might be good. I thought I might be good at it. I was full of doubt. But I started, and coached one week at a time, one person at a time. And now I am.

I meant to create something about David Gemmell, because I love his work. I really wanted to, for several years. But I almost didn't. And in the end I did it one e-drop of wisdom at a time. And now I have created it. And it is there as long as I want it to be.

I did this through good and bad, light and dark, doubt and the burning knowledge that I knew I wanted it. I did it because people believed in me, and helped me. I did it because it was important.

What is important to you? What are you called to? What are you called by? It's time to start.