The Cost of Waiting, and the Quiet Risk of Never Starting

When discussing a new beginning, the conversation inevitably focuses on the practicalities: the sheer effort, the long hours, the uncertainty, the risk, and the detailed construction process. This often leads people to stall, over-analyze, and call it "being responsible." Yet beneath this perceived patience lies the uncomfortable truth: readiness is not required. It is a convenient fiction we tell ourselves, invented purely to avoid immediate discomfort.

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What Actually Disappears When You Go Out on Your Own

Starting a business involves a unique and difficult hurdle which is getting used to a life where familiar validation is absent, a challenge that can outweigh the actual labor.

In a typical career, your standing is consistently made clear through continuous external feedback, such as structured criticism, performance reviews, revenue targets established by others, promotions, and new job titles. These signals constantly provide a clear measure of your progress. 

But when you venture out on your own, the familiar signs of progress vanish almost instantly. There's no manager to affirm you're headed in the right direction, no defined career path, and no quarterly assessment to validate your work. You can work harder than you ever have and still end the day with no external confirmation that any of it counts. This absence of feedback can be deeply unsettling.

Why Effort Isn’t the Real Test

Many initially believe the challenge lies in the work itself. Like mastering the skills quickly, executing tasks, and keeping up with the speed. But the true measure of endurance is the lack of feedback. It's the silence where applause should be, and the realization that no one is observing closely enough to acknowledge the effort.

Within an organization, your relevance is constantly validated, often without conscious thought, through a meeting invitation, a Slack message, or a nod from an influential colleague. While you might complain about bureaucracy, its constant signaling of your relevance is an undeniable benefit. Thus, when you start your own business, the process of deciding what is relevant is completely self-guided.

Where Progress Quietly Begins

The true starting point for meaningful advancement, regardless of whether that progress is recognized by others, is shifting your focus from seeking external validation of your work's legitimacy to assessing its purpose and the positive impact it has on others' lives. Whether you are leading a team or simply lifting someone’s spirits during a five-minute conversation while serving coffee, when you trade the pursuit of external validation for a focus on human impact, you achieve a level of advancement that no performance review can define.

The Kind of Encouragement That Lasts

At this stage, encouragement isn't found in applause; it's rooted in pattern recognition. You begin to notice that problems feel familiar rather than overwhelming, leading you to solve them faster and make fewer emotional decisions. You start to trust your own judgment more than you did just a month ago. These are quiet, uncelebrated wins, but they are the ones that truly compound.

Move While Your Hands Are Still Shaking

If you wait until you’re comfortable, you’ll be waiting forever. Comfort has a way of disguising itself as wisdom, but most of the time it’s just avoidance with better language.

It's a common misconception that confidence precedes action. In reality, the opposite is true: action fosters clarity, and movement generates confidence. Individuals who achieve progress don't conquer their fears but rather, they simply choose not to let fear dictate their decisions.

The ones who build something real aren’t fearless. They're just willing to move while their hands are still shaking. They understand that hesitation doesn't reduce risk; it compounds it. Every delay adds weight. Every “later” makes the first step heavier than it needs to be.

Embrace starting early, even if it means starting imperfectly. Starting something new strips away the noise and leaves you alone with your reasons. If you can learn to work without applause, to measure progress without permission, and to stay steady when no one is watching, you build something far more durable than momentum.

🎙 Want to hear more? Check out my whole conversation with Mari Mushku on The Randall Osché Podcast—available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.