Battling the resistance of starting, and using what has been there all along.
Resistance is internal. It exists within all of us, holding us back with a paralyzing fear of the unknown, of judgment, of producing.
Around the age of twelve, I began collecting wine corks. For years, I collected and accumulated corks. They, I told myself, were for an unknown project. A few years ago, I finally put the corks to use in that project.
Starting is the most important, and most difficult, part of any project. I had to make that initial crack in the membrane of resistance holding me back from creating.
Surrounded by corks, I sat down and learned the tools of the trade: how to cleanly cut the corks in half, dividing the reds from the whites, etc. Everything was in place, yet I wavered until the last second with thoughts of the unknown, of being 'too busy' to spend my time cutting corks.
The first version never comes out perfectly aligned, written, or designed. But it needs to be done. Feedback and edits will produce the finely-tuned final concept.
Meaningful things take time. The corks don’t cut themselves. The resistance to producing never goes away.
Even in writing, getting words on the page is the most difficult part. We must fight the resistance to bring the words forth. The important part is not success or perfection, but doing the work, writing the draft, opening the studying material. Laying out the corks.
Create habits that breed success. Use your collected corks.
