How To Get Started When You Have No Idea How To Start

I don’t always know where to start.

I can literally wander aimlessly through my house. Sit down, stand up. Open tabs up on my internet browser. Flick through a book. Put it down.

It can feel so exhausting. The limbo zone of knowing roughly you have “all these things” going on, and yet now knowing where or how to begin.

I do my best to stay in motion when this happens. Not pushy, must-get-this-done motion. But gentle, keep showing up, keep trying motion.

For example, this blog post, right now. I knew I wanted to tell you about a specific thing (I’m getting to it) but I had no idea where to start.

So I started with exactly that. Typing: I don’t always know where to start.

I realise this happens a lot. I don’t know what movie I want to watch. I don’t know what to have for dinner. I don’t know how to get all the points across I really want to make in a class I’m teaching. I don’t know what my client will show up with in a session.

Back when I was figuring out how to reignite my life – after a long period of all the “signs” things were not okay, migraines, exhaustion, frustration, digestive issues – I didn’t know where to start either.

I questioned what I “should” be doing about it. Should I get a new job? Go traveling? Quit?

Should I keep going and stop complaining? Should I keep saving and pay off my debt?

I didn’t have many, if any, answers at the time.

But I kept in motion. Some days that motion looked very much like lying on my couch reading. Because the motion I needed was to take “action” that put me first. And putting me first required rest for possibly the first time in my life in that way.

When I’ve not known where to start, there’s always been a guiding principle that’s kept me moving forward.

It’s been knowing that the more I keep showing up, believing that my next step will lead me to my next and my next, the more clarity arrives. Far from “getting all the answers” from staying stuck, you’ll find the more you test things, take actions, and stay in movement towards what you want – the clearer the fogginess becomes.

It’s exactly the same with any project I’ve ever completed – from school assignments, through to tutoring jobs at university, new policy submissions when I worked in government, friendships, and any “dream” I’ve ever had.

At first, you don’t know where to start.

I know you’ve experienced this feeling at least once in your life. And you’re likely to experience it at least once more. The not knowing is part of the cycle of creation. And it’s surprisingly necessary to keep you moving towards your dreams.

My unconventional approach to planning is what keeps me in motion, even when I have no idea where to begin. It’s become the pillars that strengthen me and connect me to my foundation.

Without it, those don’t know where to start moments would leave me paralysed and helpless.

With it, despite it not always feeling comfortable (actually far from it!), I always feel certain that there is a way forward. I know and trust that the messiness is all part of it and necessary to deliver me to my clarity.

Feel like you could do with some of that certainty too?

Join me for my Fuel Your Dreams Masterclass. I’m teaching you this unconventional approach to planning. (It’s £19* and you get access to I’m teaching you this unconventional approach to planning. (It’s £19* and you get access to the recording + workbook).

It could be exactly what you need if you don’t know where to start right now.