Faith is taking the first step when you can't see the whole staircase

Recently, I came across this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr: "Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."

That hit home for me, because right now, I'm looking up at a brand new staircase in my business: opening a Moticise space here in New York City.

This idea has been in the works for a few months now. It will be a place where people can come to find their core, then manifest it – through coaching, Moticise classes, meditation, special events, retreats, and eventually nutrition. This space is truly the summation of all my passions: mindset, fitness, and bringing people together to reach their goals.

But no sooner had I decided to go for it when the fears set it.

Instead of being excited, I was paralyzed. I worried that being afraid meant something was wrong. For weeks, that fear plagued me. I was so afraid to make the wrong move that I all but stopped moving at all.

One night, I had trouble sleeping. I tossed and turned, dwelling on all the usual fears – What if I can't do it? What if I don't have what it takes? So when morning came, I got up and I went for an early run, and while I was running, I thought about that King quote: Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.

And I realized something:

Any time I've made a big change, I've felt this way. When I moved to California, when I had my kids, when I left acting. Every major event in my life has come along with its own set of fears.

Fear doesn't mean something is wrong or impossible. Fear is natural. Fear tags along every chance it gets, because we're human, and we're vulnerable.

And we have a secret weapon against it: faith.

I don't mean necessarily mean spiritual faith (though if that's what it means to you, then that's great). I'm talking about faith in myself, in my team, in the process. Faith that by taking action and keeping a fresh, positive mindset, I can make my dream a reality.

So how does a person increase faith? How can you muster up the courage to take that first step, even when the end feels so far away, it's not even in sight?

Here are some ways that I've found work wonders when it comes to building up our faith:

1. Focus on what's possible. You know that excitement you felt when you first thought of the idea? Go back to that. Invite it in. Where do you feel it in your body? Step into that place and really soak in that energy. From this place, what's one step you can take right now?
2. Look back to past successes. What's a time when you were scared in the past, but you worked through it? What happened? Draw on that courage. Make a list of what you did that brought you that success. How can you use those strategies to do it again?
3. What do you have? This is one of the most overlooked questions in the world. We're so programmed to see what we don't have – most us can rattle off a whole laundry list, no problem. But as soon as you flip that question around, and start looking for what you already have in place to help you reach your goal, I guarantee you'll find way more than you expect.
4. Find that courage within. Often, we believe we need confidence in order to start something big. But that's not true. All we need is a little bit of courage. And everyone has that, because everyone has done things that scared them before – started a job, quit a job, ended a relationship, heck, even walked into your kindergarten classroom! Remember that confidence will come with time, but courage – even if it's only a tiny shimmer – is all you need to get started.
5. Take that first step, even if it's small. Massive action will take you far, but that doesn't mean you have to raise $1,000,000 before the end of today. Massive action can also be a lot of smaller actions. What's something – big or small – that you can do this week, that would take you giant steps closer to your goal?

When you're at the bottom of a new staircase, it's completely natural to be afraid. But we don't need to leap up the whole flight in a single bound. We can take it one step at a time.

What about you? What staircase are you looking up, this week?

What's the first step?