To The Ones Becoming: Just Start

Just Start.

I honestly wish I could write only that and call it a wrap, because truly, it is not more, not less.

Just start.

We have all heard this phrase countless times. And I think that is exactly why I am writing about it today. Sometimes, when something is repeated too often, we begin to lose its weight. Especially when people we don’t trust or don’t think know what they are saying keep saying it.

But I’ve realized something.

The fact that a word or phrase is repeated by everyone does not and will never undermine its meaning.

I know this because I have seen so many phrases we dismiss as “motivational talk” work powerfully in my own life, once I actually practice them.

One of them is: just start.

Just start clueless.
Just start uncertain.
Just start full of doubt.
Just start not ready.
Just start afraid.

Just start.

We are 53 days into the year. I found myself thinking that if I hadn’t started the things I began on January 1st, these 53 days would still have passed, but they would have passed without the actions and without the results.

By now, you should know I am on a 12 Week Year. This is my Week 6.

When I mapped out this 12-week calendar, I set a goal to read 3 books within that period. To me, that goal was huge. I hadn’t been reading consistently. And the few times I read in 2025, it required intense motivation and mental conditioning. It was hard.

But the goal met all the requirements to set a goal in the book. So I broke it down.

Read every day.
At least one hour.
30 pages.
Or one chapter.
Just read something.

And I just started.

On January 1st, I opened a book and started reading.

On February 18th, I completed my third book, a 12-week goal achieved in 6 weeks.

I am currently on my fourth book, because the momentum is now beautiful.

I set that reading goal because I want to speak better. Write better. Fix my attention span, which was honestly a wreck. These are results I can’t measure immediately. But I know I have deposited something powerful toward that desire in the last six weeks.

Now, are there days I don’t feel like reading? Absolutely.

I’ve missed 2 days out of 45 (2 days out 6 weeks).

There were days I read only 10 pages.
There were days I read 30 pages.
There were days I read for two hours straight.

But here is a transformation I cannot ignore:

I went from struggling to read 10 pages to completing 263 pages in 18 days.

Speed and completion aren’t even the main point. it is that I reflect, I implement, and I extract lessons. Sixty to 120 minutes generating a return on investment far greater than the time invested.

ROI on speaking.
ROI on writing.
ROI on attention span.
ROI on life reset.
ROI on depth.

The list is endless.

I would never have experienced this if I hadn’t started six weeks ago.

I wouldn’t be this confident that one day I will speak and write better, if I hadn’t started.

I can already hear the voice:

“Juliana, it’s just been six weeks.”
“Juliana, life gets busy.”
“Juliana, it will get hard.”

Thank you. I know.

I’m just saying — start.

Will it get hard? Yes.
Will life get busier? Absolutely.

But now that I have seen the power of this overly repeated, almost annoying phrase, I will keep starting. Again and again (Though for now, I’m still going strong. Lol.)

I know this blog is my becoming to you, the ones also becoming. But allow me to say this like a motivational speaker would:

No matter how hard or impossible that goal feels, please just start today.

Everyone doesn’t want to sound like a motivational speaker. People say, “I’m not a motivational speaker.”

At this point, I don’t care. I don't care if i sound like one.

Because this became my lived reality. It shook me.

'So it’s true? I just have to start?'

My life proved to me that it is.

So today, once again:

Just start.

(Something good though. Lol.)

This is my becoming, to the ones becoming.

We are already 53 days into the year.

If you started today, what could change in 6 weeks?

Talk to me. What is one thing you will start this week?

With love,

Olayide Juliana

A steward who believes that light shed, knowledge shared, and beliefs reviewed can make both me and the world better.

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