Bending Toward Clarity

When it comes to creating, the biggest hurdle is starting.

This holds true for creative direction. You have a dozen ideas, all of which sound great in your head. Many of them excite you equally, only to leave you second-guessing whichever one you pick.

It’s the same with execution. You’re ready to bring an idea to life. You watch YouTube tutorials that make it look easy—achievable in minutes with the right tools. But when you actually start, you’re as clueless as you were before you watched them.

What’s helped me get past this is simple: putting cursor to pixels. Ignoring the noise in my head, I just move the needle. If it’s an illustration, I start drawing a line or a shape. If it’s a photoshoot, I press the trigger at the first thing that fits the frame. If it’s a blog post, I type whatever thought crosses my mind.

AI has made this even easier. Whenever I’m unsure where to start, I look for seeds from an LLM nearby. Even this post began as a thought starter from ChatGPT.

Starting somewhere materializes my thinking. It changes the variables in my head, answers some questions, clears some confusion. Every little motion helps me see my true vision.

This method isn’t flawless. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll take the longer route. You’ll hit dead ends. But these are all steps forward. Your next illustration, photo, or post will thank you for them. I just log that time under the 10,000 hours Malcolm Gladwell says we need for mastery.

The alternative is waiting for that perfect moment—when you “feel ready.” That “someday” might never come. And while you wait, you risk losing inspiration, energy, and time.

So start traversing the curve. The imperfections along the way are opportunities. Each one leads you somewhere new. These are layovers, not destinations. The curve never ends. But it always bends toward clarity.