Emma can't decide, and she’s losing time

I was having a coffee with my friend Emma this week.

She wants to start a YouTube channel. She has ideas. Lots of them.

Too many, really.

'I just can't decide on what kind of channel to make,’ she told me.

It wasn't really about the decision, though. I could hear it in her voice.

She doubted herself.

She doubted her ability to pick something and run with it.

What if she chose the wrong thing? What if people laughed?

I told her this doubt is the most common thing I see. It kept me frozen for years, too.

I remember at my research job in London, sitting at a desk, knowing I wanted to create things that mattered to me.

But finding time to work on my own projects felt impossible.

The job had this seductive safety to it. It meant a nice, secure salary. It gave me an obvious routine. There were people who expected things from me, even if one of them was an annoying boss.

Doing my own thing felt like the wild west. Lawless and rather scary.

So I stayed put. For longer than I should have.

I eventually figured out that the confidence to pursue your creative dreams doesn't come from knowing you'll succeed.

It comes from respecting yourself enough to honour your choice and try anyway.

When you hold yourself in high regard, you give yourself permission to experiment. To pick one path and see what happens. To be a beginner again.

Emma doesn't need more clarity on which channel to start with.

She needs to trust herself enough to start one. Any one.

Things can, and should evolve, once you start, and once feedback starts rolling in.

The decision matters less than the self-respect you show yourself by making that damn decision.

Self-respect is the foundation. Everything creative builds on top of it.

I wrote a whole book on this, and it surprised me how it took off.

The Art of Self-Respect is a collection of 25 habits that rebuild how you see yourself.

This isn’t about cringe affirmations or fake positivity, but real shifts in how you carry yourself each day. It starts with little habits.

Right now, you can grab the special book bundle for $19. It includes the book plus three bonuses I don’t provide anywhere else.

• The 12 Habits of Mentally Strong People

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If you've been waiting for permission to pursue that creative thing you keep thinking about, maybe this is it.

Get The Art of Self-Respect bundle here.

Peace and love,

Alex