If you are reading these words, you are either
A) Coming back to my first articles after I became famous.
B) Your dog was playing with your computer and after randomly pressing the keys, and you found yourself here.
C) I flooded your social media to the point that you were forced to click on the link.
Now, all that matters is you are here, reading what I am writing (how poetic).
While brainstorming ways to implement my first article on my website, I kept running into the same problem: what is considered a perfect start? I didn’t want to write any hard-hitting journalism or give some corny advice we would have all forgotten about. It was these reasons which delayed the process of publishing my first article. So, I had the genius thought, why don’t I talk about the struggle of having to come up with my first article, as my first article and what we can learn from it (yes, back to the corny advice).
The struggle of publishing your first article isn’t a struggle that comes from a lack of ideas, or even writing ability, but one that comes from fear of how others will perceive you. Currently, I am in a communication college class. On our second week of class (so the first week of actual work) we were instructed to watch Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. During our discussion posts, one of my classmates, asked us if Dr. King was excited or nervous during his speech. I replied thinking that Dr. King might have been nervous leading up to the speech but once he started talking, the nerves went away. I also mentioned that Dr. King has spoken in front of many crowds, gaining confidence with each speech. The reason I mention this is because actions become more difficult without experience, and as experience increases, so does confidence in said action.
While working on my website, I kept comparing myself to prominent authors like Mark Manson and James Clear. Looking at their websites, how everything flowed together and the quality of their work, I was discouraged. What happens if I lose my consistency and my website becomes a graveyard, or what will happen if the grammar in my work doesn’t match that of experienced authors. I think within the weeks it took me to create and publish my website; I thought about every way this could go wrong.
While struggling to write my first article, I told myself, JUST START. Just start writing, publish whatever you have written, then move on. This advice isn’t something I would recommend for everyone in every situation, but sometimes things just need to get moving before they get better. This personal advice came from what I told myself before I started consistently going to the gym. I was discouraged by my lack of strength and comfortability in the gym, but by starting with a simply plan, my confidence continued to grow with my strength helping me implement gym time into my life.
So remember, it doesn’t have to start pretty to end memorable.