Second Edition · Just Start
The first step is everything.
An expanded second edition, roughly 10,000 words longer than the original. New chapters on AI, imposter syndrome, and what actually happens after you hit the goal. Written for anyone stuck between wanting a different life and not knowing how to begin.
ISBN 979-8-18597-020-1
Why I wrote this
I was sixteen, in a school uniform, walking into a music shop in a small Queensland town, asking the owner if I could teach piano there. He laughed. Politely. Then he let me try. I spent the rest of that school year teaching instead of attending class, and nobody found out for months.
I wrote the first edition of this book in 2022, certain I'd learned the lesson. Then I moved back to Australia, worked nights for a team in Tel Aviv, and found myself physically home and completely isolated. The noise is louder now than when I first wrote about it. AI has changed what self-doubt sounds like. Starting is still the hardest part.
This edition is what I've learned since. Not from a place of having it figured out. From the middle of still figuring it out.
"Putting the trainers by the door is not failure. It's process."
What's inside
New chapters for the world as it is now.
- The Noise Is Louder Now — on social media and AI slop
- You vs. The Machine — imposter syndrome in the AI era
- The 3am Chapter — mental health, written from the middle of it
- And Then What? — what happens after you hit the goal
This workbook exists because a goal on its own is just a wish with good intentions.
Every exercise in here was born from something I actually messed up first — a fear I let stop me, a deadline I ignored, a habit I couldn't break until I put it on paper. The SWOT worksheets, the Paper Plate templates, the Fear & Doubt Inventory, the Mental Health check-ins… none of this is theory. I built these tools in cheap apartments and borrowed studios, staring at paper plates on the wall, figuring out how to get from where I was to where I wanted to be.
You don't need to do it all at once. Pick a section that matches where you are right now. Some of these exercises took me weeks. Some I'm still doing. The point isn't speed. The point is showing up, writing it down, and giving yourself permission to start before you feel ready.
Because here's what I know for certain: you already have more in you than you're giving yourself credit for. The stuff that's holding you back is real, but it's not permanent. And the version of you that's on the other side of this work? They're already inside you, waiting for you to just start.
— Michael Pearson-Adams
Also included
The free companion workbook.
The same worksheets and exercises from the book, ready to use. Free. No email required.
- SWOT worksheets
- Paper Plate templates
- Fear & Doubt Inventory
- Mental Health check-ins