It’s time to write the next book. Like with any launch point on a new S Curve, it’s exhilarating, ruthlessly terrifying, and… vaguely apprehensive. I have an outline, of course, and I have a clear vision of what I want to write about, so now there’s nothing left to do but start.
Do you know that feeling? When you’re all packed up and ready for a long trip, the suitcase is by the door, you finally find your passport, and you’ve triple-checked which airport you’re leaving from. But you just can’t bring yourself to walk out the door and catch a cab quite yet. As exciting and well-planned as the trip is, sometimes there’s a part of you that doesn’t want to leave what’s in front of you now. You’re thinking about being crammed in that aisle seat, figuring out the metro in another language, and a thousand what-ifs that make the shore look a lot better than rowing out to sea.
That’s the tension of the launchpoint, balancing that boundless brainstorming with the will to put hammer to nail. Sometimes a dream matters so much to you that it becomes almost impossible to start.
So yes, it’s time to write the next book. When that launchpoint balance is off, and the scales are tipped towards spending too much time in your head, the best solution is to get out of your head and into the world. I’m not the only one who’s felt the pangs of anticipation.
I went looking for data points, something real and outside of me that I could hold onto when the internal motivations seemed crosswise with themselves. There’s a fascinating study from the University of Virginia about the latent power in looking at a steep mountainside with, and without, someone beside you. The research breaks down like this – they had two groups of people estimate the slant of a hill on campus. One group did their estimates alone; the other had someone they considered a supportive friend next to them during the experiment. Across the board, having a friend reduces how steep you perceive the climb in front of you.
Make sure you remind yourself during the launchpoint that although it is your S Curve to climb, there’s an inherent force in the presence of others. Don’t make yourself go it alone.
The other thing that makes the launchpoint seem like more of a light jog, less like launching the Apollo missions, is atomizing progress – writing for 5 minutes a day, becomes 15 one day when you’re really feeling an idea, becomes an hour you set aside specifically, becomes a raft of surprising upsides you didn’t know you had in you when you were dreading the launchpoint.
If you’re looking for more of a guidebook on balancing your internal ecosystem with your external dreams, I’d love for you to listen to my recent conversation with Nathan Tanner, episode 373. He’s the recent author of The Unconquerable Leader – Mastering the Internal and External Game, and it’s chock full of case studies on folks who faced down the launch point, even when things got rocky.
And on conquering that clammy-palm fear of committing yourself to something new, something unknown and untested, there’s episode 371 with Eduardo Briceno. When you’ve grown up your whole life scared to talk to others, to really open up with them and show them a raw stream of emotions, how do you face that launchpoint? Today, Eduardo’s the CEO of MindsetWorks, where he’s expanding on the growth mindset work of Carol Dweck. How did he find his own balance, in a Stanford grad class about interpersonal dynamics? Tune in to find out.
So with all that said, it’s time to write. What words have you been holding off, putting down on paper? Which S Curve in your life, professional or personal, has you standing with your toes just over the edge of the diving board, looking down at the water but unable to jump? How can you find your cheering supporters, and break down a terrifying idea into the run-up, the jump, the takeoff, and the dive?
My best,
Whitney
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