Start before you feel ready

Begin the session with the lowest-friction action — any word, any mark — without waiting for readiness.

Why it works

The feeling of "readiness" is often Resistance disguised as preparation. The activation energy required to move from not-working to working is highest at the very start; once begun, momentum dramatically lowers the cost of continuing. Starting with the smallest possible action — writing a single word, sketching a single line, writing the first bad sentence — uses this activation asymmetry to bypass the threshold entirely.

How to do it

1. When you sit down, do not review your notes, plan the session, or sharpen your pencil — begin.
2. Write the first bad sentence, sketch the rough shape, play the clumsy phrase — quality is irrelevant at start.
3. Use a strict time limit (five minutes) to prevent "getting ready" rituals from consuming the session.
4. Trust that the work will improve once the engine is running; the start is the hard part, not the continuation.

Evidence

Consistent with activation-energy and two-minute-rule reasoning in habit formation: the barrier to starting is higher than the barrier to continuing. Self-regulation research also finds that action initiation is one of the most common failure points in goal pursuit, and behavioral momentum (small first steps) is a reliable counter. (mechanistic)

Some creative tasks genuinely benefit from brief preparation; "start before ready" is most valuable as a counter to procrastination, not as a rule against all pre-session review.

Common mistake

Spending the session "getting ready" — re-reading previous work, reorganizing files, planning what to write — which performs the feeling of work without producing any.