Confidence in your work doesn’t come first. It shows up somewhere around the fortieth thing you finished.

Confidence is an output, not a starting condition. It comes from the stack of finished things behind you, because the evidence has to exist before your brain will believe it, and nothing you say to yourself substitutes for that. Which is why early work feels so exposed. There is nothing underneath it yet to stand on.

Stop waiting to feel ready and start counting what you finish. Keep the list somewhere you can see it. After a couple of dozen entries, notice how much less each new start costs you.