45 Comments
User's avatar
Elliot's avatar

This reminds me of “kaizen”, small improvements daily rather than trying to swing for fences and missing. Great post!

Matt Buffa's avatar

agree. big fan of the whole concept. thanks for reading!

The Wallachian Girl 🖤❤️'s avatar

I absolutely loved this, and what a great post. As Lao Tzu said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," and this is exactly what I needed to read to remind myself of that! Thank you! 🖤❤️

Likewise, if you’re interested in a fresh perspective on culture, lifestyle, and politics, as well as poetry and short stories, I’d really appreciate it if you could please subscribe to and comment on Letters From the Castle 🏰🌙💜

My latest post: https://thewallachiangirl.substack.com/p/the-snowy-morning

Matt Buffa's avatar

one of my favorite quotes. should’ve included it in the post hahah.

nice i’ll check it out.

Tracy W. Abel's avatar

Yes yes yes.

World at Rest's avatar

Good points. I want to write a creative answer. But I'll do that tomorrow. Right now I have to keep going on that huge project I just agreed to take on... for 5 more minutes.... :-)

Josh Ward's avatar

lower the barrier to entry is such a nice tool when resistance is high. most of the time it's just activation that needs to be overcome

Sophie Burns's avatar

Yes! I feel like we are also surrounded by so many 'finished products' that it's so hard to have empathy and patience for our first, often embarrassing, attempts. There's this Aussie actor who makes comedic skit tiktoks that talks about being cringe - he says that basically every good thing we want in life is on the other side of that cringe - and that we need to get over the fear of looking stupid at the beginning. I'm trying to embrace my looking stupid phase as we speak!

Matt Buffa's avatar

well said. there are no exceptional people. just those who start and stick with it long enough to see success.

James Mortimer's avatar

Oh that's good. Well done. Love the AA reference.

You can always have a drink to tomorrow, but never today.

Lee Blackwood's avatar

Your post/image of when you had 12 subscribers piqued my curiosity, so came to check you out. "Let's see what this guy writes about."

I hit the subscribe button after reading the first five paras of this article. I think we'd get along.

I have a friend who always says, "How do you eat an elephant?" (One bite at a time.) But I never interpreted that the way most people do. The way I look at it (being a professional chef) is--geez, I couldn't possibly eat an entire elephant today! First I have to prep it. Then I have to cook it. That could take several days! (Not to mention that I have to find a reallllly big oven...) And only after all that, could I possibly sit down to start eating it. So I always viewed this saying the same way you explain here: Let's just start with what I can get done TODAY. Then tomorrow I can worry about tomorrow, and so forth. It has always worked for me 😁

Boluwatife, Maybe.'s avatar

This is absolutely true, Matt. Thank you!

I wrote on something similar that I titled “Fortune favours the flawed” and I think your readers here would love it.

Check it out here; https://boluwatifemaybe.substack.com/p/fortune-favours-the-flawed?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=6jetqd

And if y'all love it, like, restack and subscribe!

biagio's avatar

Matt, thank you for the post. Inspired me to make my first Substack post today. Will be following along :)

TheThousandWaysIam's avatar

This is really good! First thing I read this morning and proud to have done so. I also will admit I cracked a laugh! Thank you for your piece, I’m happy it found me when I needed it the most.✨

Matt Buffa's avatar

glad you found value in it :) thanks for reading

TheThousandWaysIam's avatar

Also, I just opened my account for the first time ever, loving it here(?????)

aislemon's avatar

It’s always today, and never tomorrow. Loved that. ❤️

Matt Buffa's avatar

glad it resonates. thanks for reading!

BABZORD's avatar

I love this. Grateful I found your publication.

Matt Buffa's avatar

thanks for reading! glad you found it helpful

Ossify Blog's avatar

Similar for me RN, I've been getting over my fear of posting things by just recording a DJ mix and immediately posting, writing an article-editing-posting, recording a guitar cover and posting on TikTok. Let there not be a barrier to entry for you getting things out there either - post when you're bad and let people see the progression.

Matt Buffa's avatar

yes! great mindset to have

Jack Bryan's avatar

I confess that I am both stupid enough to fall for the five minute trick and smart enough to use it on myself often

Matt Buffa's avatar

which makes you 10x smarter.

Aitana Hendriks's avatar

I really enjoyed reading this. Gave me some laughs and a 'reminder' of how I should let go of accidental perfectionism. I think I should actually write about that NOW!

Matt Buffa's avatar

i write these posts as a reminder to myself most of the time lol. accidental perfectionism is a great way to put it. thanks for reading!