Begin Anywhere

John Cage once offered a simple instruction:

“Begin anywhere.”

It sounds almost too easy. Too casual. Too unstructured.

But the more I sit with it, the more I think it might be one of the most practical pieces of advice ever given.

We spend an extraordinary amount of time waiting for the “right” moment.

The right time.
The right energy.
The right level of readiness.
The right plan.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:

There is no perfect starting point.

There is no magical alignment of conditions where you suddenly feel fully prepared, fully confident, and fully certain that everything will work.

If anything, clarity tends to show up after we begin — not before.

Most of us think we need to understand the whole path before we take the first step.

But progress rarely works that way.

Writers don’t understand the full book before writing the first paragraph.
Entrepreneurs don’t see the finished business before launching the first offer.
Marketers don’t master a platform before sending the first campaign.

Momentum creates clarity.

Action creates direction.

Starting creates learning.

Waiting creates… more waiting.

Sometimes we hesitate because we believe we must begin at the logical beginning.

But what if there isn’t one?

What if the “beginning” is just wherever your energy is today?

You don’t need to outline the entire strategy before drafting a single page.
You don’t need to redesign the whole website before rewriting one headline.
You don’t need to understand every feature before experimenting with one tool.

Begin anywhere.

Open the document.
Sketch the idea.
Send the email.
Map the first customer journey.
Draft the first paragraph.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the first step in sequence.
It only matters that it’s a step.

Perfection is a moving target. Momentum is measurable.

One small action today beats a perfectly designed plan that never launches.

There’s a strange psychological shift that happens when you start. Even imperfectly.

You go from:
“I should do this.”

To:
“I am doing this.”

And that shift changes everything.

The brain loves movement. Once you start, it wants to keep solving, refining, improving. But it needs friction to break first — and the only way to break friction is to move.

Readiness is often just disguised fear.

Fear of being seen.
Fear of getting it wrong.
Fear of not being as good as you’d like.

But skill develops through repetition, not contemplation.

If you wait to feel confident, you may wait indefinitely.

Confidence is built in motion.

This doesn’t have to be dramatic.

You don’t need a grand reinvention.

Just begin.