The Locked Gate: Why We Fear Starting and How to Begin Anyway
MODERN CREATIVITY
Issue #7
The real reason you're not starting (it's not what you think)
Hey Creative!
Let me tell you a story about one of the world’s most famous artists…
Franz Kafka sat at his desk every night for three years, staring at blank pages.
Not because he had nothing to say, he had notebooks full of ideas, characters whispering in his head and many absurd stories begging to be told.
But every time he picked up his pen, something stopped him.
He described it like standing before a locked gate, knowing the key was in his pocket but unable to move his hand to reach for it.
"I haven't written anything for three years," he confided to a friend. "Not even something I've started."
This wasn't writer's block. This was Resistance.
And here's what most people get wrong about it: Resistance doesn't want to stop you from creating. It wants to stop you from starting.
Once you're in motion, Resistance loses its power. But at the starting line? That's where it's strongest.
The Deep Dive
The Kafka Method: Start Before You're Ready
Kafka eventually found his way through. Not by conquering fear, but by beginning anyway.
But his breakthrough wasn't the dramatic moment we imagine. No single night of inspired writing. No sudden burst of genius.
Instead, he started showing up to his desk. Night after night. Some evenings he wrote one sentence. Other nights, a paragraph. Many nights, nothing good at all.
The Metamorphosis emerged from this quiet practice. Not in a fevered sprint, but through the accumulated weight of small beginnings. Each time he sat down, he opened the gate a little wider.
The secret isn't a shiny breakthrough moment. It's the continued opening of the gate, again and again.
Turning Pro: The Mindset That Makes It Stick
Steven Pressfield calls this shift "turning pro." It's the difference between an amateur and a professional approach to creative work.
The amateur waits for inspiration. Creates when the mood strikes. Makes excuses about not having enough time, the right equipment, or the perfect conditions.
The professional shows up every day. Creates whether inspired or not. Treats the work like a job that must be done, regardless of feelings.
Pressfield puts it simply: "The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps."
Kafka became a professional when he stopped waiting for the perfect moment and started showing up to his desk. Not because he felt like it, but because that's what creators do.
The gate opens not through inspiration, but through discipline.
How to Open Your Gate
Here's the counterintuitive truth: The goal isn't to eliminate Resistance. It's to start while it's screaming.
Use this process the next time you feel stuck at the starting line:
1. Name What You're Really Avoiding
Write down exactly what you're not starting. Be specific. Not "I should create more" but "I'm avoiding writing the first chapter of my novel."
Then complete this sentence: "I'm avoiding this because..."
List every reason. Logical or irrational. The truth is hiding in there somewhere.
2. Find the Five-Minute Version
What's the smallest thing you could do right now that would count as starting?
Make it so ridiculously small that your brain can't find a reason to say no:
Open the file and type one sentence of gibberish
Set up your tools without any pressure to use them
Write down three terrible ideas in whatever notebook is closest
Ask yourself one question about what you're really trying to make
The magic isn't in the action itself. It's in proving to yourself that you can begin. Once you move, momentum takes over.
3. Start Ugly
Permission to be terrible is permission to begin. Your first attempt doesn't need to be good. It needs to exist.
Kafka's early drafts were chaos. Sentences that went nowhere. Characters that didn't make sense. But he kept the pen moving.
Starting ugly isn't failure. It's strategy.
4. Make Beginning Automatic
Create a starting ritual that bypasses your thinking mind entirely.
Kafka wrote at night, in silence, with a specific pen. Not because it was magical, but because ritual removes decisions. When you sit down at the same time, in the same place, with the same first action, your brain stops asking "Should I?" and starts asking "What next?"
Find your version. Make beginning inevitable.
The Real Secret
Here's what Kafka discovered that most creators never learn:
Resistance isn't the enemy of creativity. It's the compass.
It points directly at the work that matters most. The stronger the Resistance, the more important the work.
So here's what to do tomorrow: When you feel that familiar paralysis, don't fight it. Follow it. Ask yourself: "What am I most afraid to start?" Then do the five-minute version of that exact thing.
Kafka's gate wasn't locked by fear. It was locked by waiting. The key was always action.
Keep Creating,
Joseph
P.S. That project you've been avoiding? The one that makes your stomach clench when you think about starting it? That's the one. That's where the gate is waiting.
Email me what it is. I'll meet you there.
