There’s a voice inside all of us.

Sometimes it whispers, sometimes it yells.

But if you’re not careful, it can quietly talk you out of your dreams.

I’ve spent years battling that voice.

And recently, I realized it wasn’t just fear.

It was a set of beliefs I thought were true—but they were just walls I hadn’t questioned yet.

Belief #1:

“I have to be completely unique.”

For most of my life, I’ve held uniqueness as a core value.

I don’t know where it came from—maybe childhood, maybe school, maybe just this pressure to do something new and innovative.

I believed that if I couldn’t come up with an idea that no one had ever done before, it wasn’t worth doing.

So even when I had ideas that excited me, I’d shut myself down.

“That already exists.”

“Someone’s already built that.”

“Why bother?”

But here’s what I finally saw:

By chasing uniqueness, I was silencing the one thing that actually made my voice different—me.

One day, I just said… so what?

So what if this has been done before?

I moved to California—and so did millions of others.

I learned to ski—and I’m definitely not the only one.

I worked as a PM at Facebook, and I wasn’t the only one there either.

None of that stopped me.

So why should doing something that’s been done before stop me now?

Your uniqueness isn’t about originality.

It’s about how you do it.

Your lens. Your energy. Your story.

That’s what makes the same idea land in a new way.

Belief #2:

“It’s too late to start.”

This one crept in all the time.

“You should have started YouTube back in college.”

“You should have launched that course when you were still teaching at General Assembly.”

“You missed your moment.”

Sound familiar?

This voice pretends to be logical, but it’s just fear in disguise.

The truth is—nothing about thinking of the past will give you more time.

It won’t teleport you back to when you were 20.

It won’t make your memory sharper or your life simpler.

But what I do have is this moment.

And so do you.

It’s never too late when you still have time in front of you.

Belief #3:

“I just need to learn a little more first.”

This one’s sneaky.

Because it doesn’t stop you—it just delays you.

It sounds responsible, mature, even smart.

But it’s still procrastination.

I used to tell myself:

• “Just learn this strategy first.”
• “Get a bit more technical before you start.”
• “Figure out how to edit your videos better before posting.”

But guess what?

You learn faster when you start.

And life doesn’t reward the person who waited the longest to be perfect.

It rewards the person who’s willing to try before they feel ready.

Belief #4:

“I need external energy to create.”

During the pandemic, my energy tanked.

I’d finish work each day—8, 10 hours at a screen—and feel too drained to do anything else.

No spark. No creative juice. Just fog.

I’d tell myself:

“If the city was more alive, maybe I’d feel more inspired.”

“If I could just be around more people, hear more ideas, go to events… then I’d feel motivated again.”

And while yes—it’s true that I’m a mix of introvert and extrovert,

And yes—connection is fuel…

That belief wasn’t helping me.

Because relying on the world to energize me meant I was always waiting.

The shift came when I realized:

I need to be my own energy generator.

Even on quiet days. Even without applause.

Yes, the world can inspire you.

But it can’t carry your momentum.

That’s yours to build.

Final Reflection

The real blockers in our lives don’t always look like obstacles.

Sometimes they’re disguised as logic.

Sometimes they sound like smart advice.

Sometimes, they are beliefs we’ve carried for so long, we forget they’re optional.

So take a moment.

• Which of these beliefs have you been holding onto?
• Which one has been holding you back?
• And what would happen if you let it go—even just for a week?

You don’t need permission to start.

You just need the truth.

And a little courage to move—even if your voice still trembles.

Try this:

• Journal about one idea you’ve been holding back on—because you thought it was too late, too done, or not “good enough.”

Ask yourself: If I didn’t believe that thought, what would I do next?

Then do that one small next step.

You don’t have to be ready.

You just have to begin.