How I realized I had been saying “GSD” without actually GSDing.
For years, I used the phrase “GSD.” It rolled off my tongue easily.
“Let’s GSD this”.
“Time to GSD”.
“Quit talking and GSD”.
It felt bold. Action-oriented. Productive.
But here’s the honest part – for a long time, I was better at saying it than living it.
I’ve always been wired to build. I like ideas. I like momentum. I like solving problems. I like being around people who want to make something happen.
But liking action and actually taking meaningful, uncomfortable action are two very different things.
The shift didn’t happen in one lightning-bolt moment. It happened quietly.
And it started with Rae.
When Raelynn and I got together later in life, something subtle but powerful changed. She didn’t just believe in ideas – she believed in trying. She had this combination of kindness and confidence that made failure feel survivable.
And that matters more than most people realize.
It’s easy to take risks when you’re alone and no one sees you fall. It’s harder when someone you respect is watching. But somehow, with her, the fear softened.
We didn’t call it GSD at the time. We just started building.
Backstory T-Shirts.
Raesoleil.
MyLifeCatcher.
AskIain.
(… and there is so much more to come, more in the wings and more fun to have GSDing together!)
But… none of them launched perfectly. None of them were polished from day one. All of them were messy in their own way. But they were real. They moved. They taught us things.
Each one added a layer of momentum.
Each one proved that action beats intention.
Each one quietly reinforced something I hadn’t fully owned yet: I am at my best when I am building.
What surprised me most wasn’t that the businesses worked (some better than others). It was what happened internally.
I stopped waiting for the perfect conditions. I stopped needing full clarity before beginning. I stopped overvaluing comfort.
Momentum became addictive – in a healthy way.
Then there was a window of time between heavy lifts with MyLifeCatcher. A little breathing room. The kind of space that usually gets filled with “busy.” Instead, I wrote.
Not because I had always planned to write a book. But because I realized something. I had been telling people to GSD for years. It was time to explain what that actually means. And guess who told me to “just do it”?
Time to GSD isn’t a how-to manual. It’s not a blueprint. It’s not a step-by-step success formula.
It’s the book I wish someone had handed me years ago – not to teach me tactics, but to remind me that movement creates clarity:
That you don’t need everything figured out.
That scrappy is powerful.
That nobody is coming.
That starting ugly is better than not starting at all.
Most of us don’t need more information. We need activation. And writing this book felt like the most honest version of GSD I’ve done yet. Not because it’s perfect. But because it exists.
If you’re in a season where you’ve been talking more than moving – I get it.
If you’ve been circling ideas without committing – I’ve been there.
If you’ve been waiting for confidence before starting – that was me.
The good news? You don’t need to transform overnight.
You just need to move once. Then again. Then again.
Momentum doesn’t come from motivation. It comes from action.
That’s what GSD really is.
And it turns out, I needed that reminder as much as anyone…