Friday morning, January 3rd. The New Year energy has evaporated. You're back at work, back in the routine, back to reality. And that thing you've been meaning to start? You're still waiting. Waiting for the right time, the right conditions, the right feeling. Here's what you won't admit: the waiting is the project. You've gotten so good at preparing to begin that you've made it a full-time occupation.

The Thesis

Waiting for optimal conditions is a sophisticated form of self-sabotage. Most people spend more time preparing to start than actually doing the thing. The waiting feels responsible, strategic, prudent. It's not. It's fear dressed up as planning.

This means: "I'll start when I have more time" is not a timeline—it's a defense mechanism. "I need to learn more first" is not preparation—it's procrastination with a diploma. "I'm waiting for inspiration" is not creativity—it's requiring perfect emotional conditions before you're willing to be uncomfortable.

The controversial claim: Starting before you're ready is not reckless—it's the only way forward. The people who achieve things are not the ones who waited for perfect conditions. They're the ones who started in suboptimal conditions and figured it out as they went.

What the Waiting Place Looks Like

The preparation trap:

You need to read one more book. Take one more course. Watch one more tutorial. Build one more side skill. Get one more certification. Then you'll be ready.

What's really happening:

You're collecting credentials instead of testing reality. Every new requirement you add delays the moment when you have to face whether you're actually capable of doing the thing.

The timing excuse:

"I'll start when..."

  • ...work calms down (it won't)
  • ...the kids are older (there will be new constraints)
  • ...I have more money (you'll find new reasons to wait)
  • ...after this big life event (there's always another one)
  • ...when I feel more confident (you won't, until after you start)

What's really happening:

You're using future conditional statements to avoid present action. The "right time" is a moving target. When work calms down, something else will be chaotic. You're not waiting for the right time—you're waiting for perfection, which doesn't exist.

The inspiration requirement:

You can't write unless you feel inspired. Can't exercise unless you feel motivated. Can't start that project unless you feel excited about it. You're waiting for the muse to show up.

What's really happening:

You're confusing cause and effect. Professionals don't wait for inspiration—they start working, and inspiration shows up during the process. Amateurs require optimal emotional conditions before beginning. This is why amateurs don't finish things.

The research rabbit hole:

Before you start, you need to understand everything about it. Read all the best practices. Study all the successful examples. Learn all the theory. Understand all the variables. Then you'll be equipped to begin.

What's really happening:

Information without application is just trivia. You're using research as a way to feel productive while avoiding the risk of actual attempts. You can't learn to swim by reading about swimming. At some point you have to get in the water.

Why We Wait

The comfort of potential:

When you haven't started, you still have infinite potential. You could be great at this. You could succeed spectacularly. All possibilities remain open.

The moment you start:

Reality intrudes. You discover you're not as naturally talented as you hoped. It's harder than you expected. Your first attempts are mediocre. The infinite potential collapses into finite reality.

The trade:

Staying in the waiting place preserves your self-image. You're someone who could do impressive things, if only conditions were right. Starting forces you to confront who you actually are right now, with your actual constraints and actual abilities.

The psychological safety of "not yet":

If you haven't started, you haven't failed. You're not failing right now because you're not trying right now. This feels safer than trying and discovering you might struggle.

The problem:

You're protecting yourself from the discomfort of being a beginner by permanently remaining a non-starter. You're choosing the comfort of untested potential over the discomfort of tested reality.

The waiting feels like virtue:

We're taught that responsible people plan, prepare, learn, and wait for the right moment. Rushing in unprepared is reckless. Therefore, waiting must be prudent.

The reality:

Planning is useful up to a point. Beyond that point, it's avoidance. Most people blow past that point and set up camp there. They're not being careful—they're being scared.

The Mechanics of Perpetual Waiting

How waiting becomes permanent:

Stage 1: Legitimate preparation

You identify something you want to do. You recognize you need to learn about it. You read a book, watch some tutorials. This is real preparation. Duration: 2-4 weeks.

Stage 2: Extended preparation

You've learned the basics, but you don't feel ready yet. You find more advanced resources. You go deeper. You tell yourself you're building a foundation. Duration: 2-6 months.

Stage 3: Meta-preparation

You're now preparing to prepare. You're researching the best ways to learn. Reading about how other people succeeded. Building systems for organizing your learning. You've stopped preparing to do the thing and started preparing to prepare for doing the thing. Duration: Indefinite.

Stage 4: Identity shift

You're now "someone who is preparing to [do the thing]" rather than "someone who does the thing." The preparation has become your identity. Actually doing the thing would require you to abandon this comfortable identity. Duration: Years, potentially permanent.

The waiting reinforces itself:

Every day you wait makes starting harder. The gap between your preparation and your action grows. The imagined standard you're preparing for keeps rising. What you needed to know six months ago feels insufficient now. You need to know more. The goalpost moves. The waiting continues.

What Waiting Actually Costs You

Opportunity cost:

Every month spent waiting is a month not spent learning from reality. If you'd started a year ago, even incompetently, you'd be a year into the learning curve. Instead, you're still at the starting line, just with more theoretical knowledge.

Example:

Person A: Starts writing immediately, produces mediocre content for 6 months, gradually improves, has a portfolio and 6 months of feedback by the end of the year.

Person B: Spends 6 months reading about writing, taking courses on writing, preparing to write. Starts writing at month 7. Still producing mediocre content, but now with only 5 months of practice.

The difference: Person A has 12 months of iteration. Person B has 5 months of iteration plus 7 months of theoretical knowledge that didn't prepare them for the actual work.

The confidence trap:

You think waiting will build confidence. It does the opposite. Confidence comes from doing things and surviving. Not doing things while telling yourself you will eventually do things breeds anxiety, not confidence.

What actually happens:

The longer you wait, the higher the stakes feel. The first attempt feels more important because you've delayed it so long. The pressure increases. Your ability to tolerate imperfection decreases. You're more likely to quit at the first sign of difficulty because you've built it up too much.

The skill gap:

Time spent preparing is not the same as time spent practicing. You cannot prepare your way to competence. You can only practice your way there.

The brutal truth:

Every hour spent reading about writing, you could have been writing. Every hour spent watching fitness videos, you could have been exercising. Every hour spent researching business ideas, you could have been testing one.

Theory is easy. Practice is hard. You're choosing easy.

The Pattern Recognition

How to know you're stuck in the waiting place:

Signal 1: Your requirements keep increasing

Six months ago, you needed to know X before starting. Now you also need to know Y and Z. The standard keeps rising to maintain the waiting.

Signal 2: You're consuming, not producing

Your time is spent reading, watching, listening, learning. You're not making anything. You're not testing anything. You're not failing at anything. You're just accumulating information.

Signal 3: You have sophisticated reasons

Your explanations for why you can't start yet are detailed, nuanced, and reasonable-sounding. You've thought deeply about all the obstacles. You're not avoiding—you're being strategic. (You're avoiding.)

Signal 4: You feel busy but make no progress

You're doing things that feel productive: organizing notes, refining plans, researching tools. But the actual milestone—the thing you claim you're preparing for—never gets closer.

Signal 5: You're more interested in the identity than the work

You enjoy telling people you're learning to code / writing a book / starting a business. You enjoy the image of yourself as someone working toward this. But when you imagine doing the actual daily work, you feel resistance.

Signal 6: "Not yet" has become automatic

Someone asks if you've started. Your immediate response is "Not yet, but soon." You don't even evaluate anymore. The waiting is your default state.

What Actually Works: Action Before Readiness

The counterintuitive truth:

You don't get ready, then start. You start, which makes you ready.

How readiness actually develops:

Wrong model: Learn → Feel Confident → Start → Succeed

Right model: Start → Struggle → Learn What You Actually Need → Apply → Improve → Confidence Emerges from Evidence

The confidence comes AFTER, not before. It's earned through doing, not granted through waiting.

The minimum viable start:

You don't need optimal conditions. You need barely adequate conditions.

Asking the wrong question: "Do I have everything I need to succeed?"

Asking the right question: "Do I have enough to take the first step?"

Examples:

  • You don't need a perfect plan to start exercising. You need shoes and the ability to walk out your door.
  • You don't need to master writing to start a blog. You need to write one mediocre post.
  • You don't need a business degree to test a business idea. You need to make one offer to one person.
  • You don't need to feel inspired to work on your project. You need to open the file and write one sentence.

The power of constraints:

Starting before you're ready forces you to work with what you have. This is not a limitation—it's an accelerator.

Why:

  • Constraints force creativity
  • Imperfection forces you to start
  • Limitations force you to learn what actually matters
  • Resource scarcity forces prioritization

The perfect setup teaches you nothing. The inadequate setup teaches you everything.

The Starting Protocol

Step 1: Set a comically small first action

Not "start the business." Not even "write a business plan."

The first action: Spend 15 minutes writing down three business ideas.

Why this works: It's too small to justify waiting. If you can't do 15 minutes, you're not waiting for conditions—you're avoiding.

Step 2: Schedule it for tomorrow

Not "soon." Not "this week." Tomorrow. Specific time.

Why this works: Removes the ambiguity. You're not deciding whether to start—you've decided. Now you're just executing.

Step 3: Expect it to feel wrong

You'll feel unprepared. Underprepared. Like you should wait and learn more. This feeling is not data—it's just fear. Do it anyway.

Why this works: You stop interpreting discomfort as a stop signal. Discomfort is the start signal.

Step 4: Do the minimum, then stop

Your 15 minutes is up? Stop. You're done for today. You started. That's the win.

Why this works: You're building the habit of starting, not the habit of completing. Completion comes later. Starting comes first.

Step 5: Repeat before you feel ready for the next one

Tomorrow, do another 15 minutes. Don't wait until you "feel like it" or "have momentum." The momentum comes from repetition, not from waiting for motivation.

Step 6: Notice what you actually need (vs. what you thought you needed)

After three days of 15-minute sessions, you'll know more about what's actually required than you did after three months of research. Reality is the teacher. Preparation was just speculation.

Common Waiting Place Traps and Exits

Trap 1: "I need to find my passion first"

You're waiting to feel certain about what you want to do before you start.

The exit: You find passion by doing things, not by introspecting. Start with curiosity, not certainty. Do something. See if you want to keep doing it. That's how you find out.

Trap 2: "I need the right tools/equipment/setup"

You're waiting to have the professional-grade tools before you begin.

The exit: Start with what you have. Professionals use their tools well. Amateurs think the tools will make them professionals. Do mediocre work with cheap tools. Upgrade when the cheap tools are the bottleneck.

Trap 3: "I need more time"

You're waiting for a clear schedule, a free weekend, a vacation, a sabbatical.

The exit: You don't need more time. You need 15 minutes. Everyone has 15 minutes. If you won't do it for 15 minutes, you won't do it for 3 hours. The time is not the issue.

Trap 4: "I need to learn from the best"

You're waiting to take the perfect course from the perfect teacher.

The exit: Learn by doing, not by studying. The best teacher is your own failures. Make bad attempts. They'll teach you more than any course.

Trap 5: "I need to overcome my fear first"

You're waiting to feel brave before you start.

The exit: Courage is not the absence of fear. It's acting despite fear. You don't overcome fear by waiting—you overcome it by doing the thing while scared.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Timing

There is no right time.

Your work won't calm down. Your life won't get simpler. Your energy won't spontaneously increase. Your fear won't disappear. Your confidence won't arrive uninvited.

The conditions you're waiting for will never come.

What actually happens:

  • You start before you're ready
  • You struggle
  • You learn what you actually need (not what you thought you needed)
  • You get slightly better
  • You do it again
  • You get better still
  • Eventually, you look back and realize you became capable during the process, not before it

The people you admire didn't wait. They started messy, learned publicly, and got better over time.

The difference between you and them is not talent, resources, or luck. It's that they started before they felt ready, and you're still waiting.

Takeaways

Core insight: Waiting for optimal conditions is a permanent state. Optimal conditions don't exist. You start in suboptimal conditions and make them work.

What's actually true:

  1. Preparation past a certain point is procrastination with a good reputation
  2. You can't think your way to readiness—you have to act your way there
  3. Confidence is earned through doing, not granted through waiting
  4. The "right time" is a moving target that stays forever out of reach
  5. Every day spent waiting is a day not spent learning from reality

What to do:

Stop asking: "Am I ready?"

Start asking: "What's the smallest thing I can do right now?"

Then do that thing. Tomorrow, do it again.

The waiting place is comfortable. It's also permanent. You can stay there your whole life, collecting information, refining plans, waiting for conditions to improve.

Or you can leave right now by taking the smallest possible action toward the thing you claim you want to do.

Action precedes readiness. Always.

The person who starts today in messy, imperfect conditions will be six months ahead of the person who waits six months for perfect conditions before starting.

You will never feel ready. Start anyway.

Today's Sketch

January 3, 2026