How to make the first move when scared

Fear doesn't go away before you start. It goes away because you started. If you're waiting to feel ready, here's the playbook our guests actually used to move while still scared. Step 1: Write down the real first move. Not "start a business." The actual next physical action might be sending an email, registering a domain, or making a call. If it takes longer than a sentence to describe, it's not small enough yet. Step 2: Shrink it until it takes under 20 minutes. Every founder we've interviewed shrank their first move until it was almost too small to count. Too small to fail at is the point. Step 3: Set a deadline you'll tell someone else. A private deadline is easy to break. A deadline someone else knows about changes the stakes just enough. Step 4: Do it before you've told yourself a story about the outcome. The moment you start imagining how it'll go, right or wrong, you've handed fear more time to build a case against you. Act first, evaluate after. Step 5: Bank the evidence. Whatever happens next, you're now someone who did the thing you were scared of. That's the only qualification you need for the second move. Conveniently, it is always a little less scary than the first.