What have you been dreaming of starting? What have you been putting off?
What idea have you been eager to make a reality? What action have you known in
your gut you want to take? Now let me ask: what are you waiting for?
Sometimes it’s good to wait, such as when you’re waiting for the extra money from your tax returns
to invest in something promising instead of digging into your emergency fund or worse, debt.
But most things are put off to their detriment. Too often we wait for a time, a circumstance,
a moment that may never come, when we really should be making life happen every single day.
Starting today, starting now, is one of the best things we can do for our dreams,
for it makes us get over that fear of starting in the first place!
Start writing. Start reading. Start studying that subject. Start making
those calls. Start reaching out. Start asking. Start those exercises. Start that blog. Just
start — because nothing else matters if you don’t! But there’s also the matter of starting properly —
another pitfall many trip themselves up in. In a world that’s obsessed with instant fame,
instant success, instant money, instant everything, it’s become harder to start
something new without either feeling like a failure right off the bat or never getting into
the flow because of unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic is not a word I like to use often,
since what most people think is realistic is the same old boring,
mediocre life, but at the same time, starting something new — investing, a sport, a craft, a
skill — and then expecting to be a quick guru like so and so or to expect things to be effortless
because that’s what X or Y person on YouTube did, is an excellent way to start something you’ll
never follow through and never finish. That sort of perfectionism
is a sure-shot way to fail. Have you ever gone to the gym
and felt disheartened when you saw how fit and robust some other people were?
Have you ever tried something new and felt embarrassed when you messed up?
Have you ever faced rejection while pursuing your dreams?
I have. Yes, yes, and yes. I bet you have too, to some of these, at some point.
We have to think beyond this! We have to press beyond this! Call it a barrier to entry. Call it
a challenge. Starting is one part, and then starting in a way that doesn’t burn us out,
but rather plants the seeds of consistency, is the other.
How do we do the latter? Part of this is getting over comparison.
Yes, that means starting that blog no matter how it compares to Mashable.
Part of this is getting over the pervasive “get rich quick”
and “young money” fetish society has. That means not losing hope when you’re not showing off Lambos
on Instagram at X age or Y stage in your life. Part of it is getting over your own expectations.
Yes, it’s good to have those, but don’t be so rigid that if you don’t meet them you
eviscerate yourself. No! Expectations, as John Gorman wrote, can be a sort of hell. Instead,
when you fall short, know you’re growing. That’s all that matters. That you’re getting better.
“My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward.
All you have to do is get back up and try again.” — Richard Branson
This is a simple video, it’s a simple idea, but frankly success is
simple — it’s just not easy to follow through on. Embrace imperfection. Embrace falling short.
Embrace the inherent ups and downs of the journey. Stop being a victim of your high expectations.
What you start now, however small, however imperfect, however much it doesn't measure up to
someone else, just might become something massive in the years to come — but only if you start, and
only if you start in a way that keeps you going. In the end, your future self will thank you for
what you start today, instead of leaving it for him or her to start a month,
a year, or a decade from now. Invest in yourself.
Invest in your future. Invest in your capacity to have an impact.
Invest in your own potential to create something beautiful.
Part of the key to success is just starting — action trumps everything.
Another part is in starting properly — so that you keep going.
Your life is a beautiful gift, an opportunity that encompasses all other potentialities. It
can be ridiculously awesome, and you can make that happen, starting now.