Start where you are

This morning’s post comes to you courtesy of what must surely be Cambridge’s noisiest cafe - providing a little life lesson.

Sometimes you just need to put your earbuds in to block out noisy toddlers and write. The perfect writing environment is right where you happen to be at the time.

Just as the perfect camera is the one that you have with you. You have to use what you have and make the best of what’s in front of you at the time. The same applies whether you are making a financial decision or starting a new project. At some point, the planning and research has to stop, you have to accept that perfection doesn’t exist and that you actually have to start doing the thing.

If you are like me you’ll find that you can spend many happy hours in the planning stages - it’s procrastinators heaven after all. The perfect excuse to put off actually starting the job because of course…you never have too much research…can you?

I’ve probably shared this quote with you before, and I make no apologies for it as it’s hands-down my favourite quote. So much so that I write it in the front of every journal and notebook I use.

It’s perfect in it’s pared back simplicity. There are no valid excuses here - you just need to start.

I was reminded of this last week when I was sitting down to work on Essay Camp: the 5-day series of prompts and exercises run by

Summer Brennan

of A Writers Notebook. I found myself procrastinating, putting off the time each day that I would sit down and write. Waiting for the perfect writing moment to present itself.

I signed up to Essay Camp because, at least in part, I had a very vivid idea of how I thought that would look. I’d sit down at my desk in the hushed quiet of the morning and light a candle before taking pen to pristine paper, my thoughts flowing effortlessly onto the page.

It was if nothing else an exercise in glorious optimism, not least because I don’t have a desk. And sitting at the kitchen table with a scented candle during the morning breakfast rush is likely to provoke bewildered (and probably sarcastic) comments from the menfolk in my household.

Instead, I gave myself a shake. Read my favourite quote and simply decided to write where I was. The places I wrote last week included (but were not limited to):

• Waitrose carpark, waiting for my husband to pick up essentials.

• In a busy cafe (aforementioned earbuds firmly in).

• In the library - as a change from coffee shops, a break for my nervous system and my wallet.

• At my kitchen table while waiting for dinner to cook.

• In bed at night - this one was pretty unsuccessful, to be fair.

All in all it was a pretty good attempt and I was surprised at how much I managed to write. I didn’t deliberately track my word count as for me, the main challenge was just to get back into writing every day. The important thing was to embrace the imperfection.

Fitting it around my life as opposed to the other way around

.The same simple principles apply to yarny projects - or any craft for that matter. It’s easy for a new knitter to get bogged down in all the things they think need to start a particular project.

Yes, of course you need the essentials - yarn, needles etc - but you don’t need super fancy ones. It’s easy to be tempted by all the blog posts, the shiny adverts and the desire to support fellow makers. But you don’t need pretty stitch markers, or magnetic chart holders or sock blockers. All these things are nice to have, of course they are but they aren’t vital to your projects success. The only thing vital to that is you - your time, your energy and your commitment to actually make the thing.

It’s only by showing up and doing the work, however imperfect, that you’ll ever make any progress.

Do you have a favourite quote or saying? Do let me know in the comments what you use to motivate you and keep you on track with your goals.

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