“I want to write more. I want to build my audience. I want to start that side project. I want to create content consistently.”
We all have these thoughts.
We all make plans about what we’ll do next month, next week, tomorrow.
But here’s the thing: most of us never cross the bridge from wanting to doing.
When I think back to 2019, I had this clear vision of becoming a writer. I spent months researching what writers do, what tools they use, which platforms are best, and how much they earn. I consumed everything about writing except… writing itself.
I was stuck in the preparation loop.
And it took me almost 8 months to realize that I was just finding excuses to delay the actual work. Because starting felt scary. What if I’m not good enough? What if no one reads it? What if I fail?
These questions kept me in the safe zone of planning.
But the reality is:
You don’t need to be ready to start.
You just need to start getting ready.
When I finally wrote my first blog post for that content writing group, it was terrible. I remember reading it again after hitting send and cringing at some sentences. But you know what? No one cared. I still got paid. And more importantly, I learned more from that one piece than from all the months I spent “preparing.”
The gap between wanting and doing isn’t about skills.
It’s not even about having the perfect plan.
It’s about being okay with being bad at something initially.
Most people who say “I want to write” actually mean “I want to have written.” They love the idea of being a writer, but they hate the messy middle where you don’t know what you’re doing.
I see this pattern everywhere now:
People wanting to start a business but never launching.
People wanting to learn a skill but never practicing.
People wanting to create but never shipping.
The secret that took me years to understand?
Action creates clarity.
You can’t think your way into doing. You have to do your way into clarity. When you start, even badly, you get feedback. You see what works. You understand what you actually enjoy vs what you thought you’d enjoy.
Here’s what helped me finally bridge that gap:
- I stopped waiting for motivation. Motivation comes after you start, not before.
- I permitted myself to suck. My first 50 pieces of writing were average at best.
- I focused on reps over results. Just show up and do the work.
- I made it embarrassingly small. Can’t write 1000 words? Write 100.
The person who writes badly every day will beat the person who plans to write perfectly someday.
Because one of them is actually writing.
I’m not saying planning is useless. But at some point, you have to move. You have to ship something. You have to put yourself out there and accept that it won’t be perfect.
Here’s the interesting part: once you start doing it, the gap gets smaller. Doing becomes easier. You build momentum. You develop confidence not from planning, but from proof that you can actually do it.
So if you’re sitting on something you want to do, ask yourself: Am I actually planning, or am I just avoiding?
The gap between wanting and doing isn’t wide.
It’s just uncomfortable. And the only way across is to start walking.