No matter where you are on your path, if you want to get to somewhere else, you have to start by doing something. Anything. One step that will move you forward today.
It’s so hard, though, right?
Not enough time. It’s overwhelming. Too much to learn. You don’t know anyone in that space.
But all of those reasons are really just…excuses. Because there are people out there with more kids than you, less knowledge, less experience, and less of a network….and they are starting right now.
How do they do it? How do you move from feeling stuck and overwhelmed to taking that next step? Here are the mantras that help me.
Nothing has to be perfect.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.(Voltaire)
If you wait for perfection, you’ll never start. You’ll never even get to good. (As so often happens, Marie Forleo’s blog today was firing on the same cylinder. Love her.)
My blogs are sometimes missing punctuation (no need to point it out!). My group coaching occasionally runs off in a different direction than I expected.
Shit is not always perfect, people.
But I’m out there in the arena – sometimes getting my ass kicked, and sometimes feeling like the master of the universe.
Either way, I’m out there, doing what I love, because I have fully embraced the idea that perfection is a myth.
Whatever it is that you dream of, don’t wait until you’ve gotten it perfect in order to start. (You’ll be changing or tweaking it later based on customer needs and your own growth, anyway.)
Knowledge level should never hold you back.
Internalizing this idea will mean challenging the way you’ve been raised. Most of us were taught that we need that next degree or certification in order to be successful in a given field. But really, the way we learn is by experiencing something for ourselves.
Sure, you can read a million books on how to paint, but until you actually start painting – until you are making your own mistakes on the canvas – then you’ll never be a painter.
And I would argue that the same is true in any field, even the medical, the field that most of us refer to as one in which you absolutely need that all important piece of paper. (But how many years of schooling do doctors spend shadowing and interning before they get their MD? Experience, my friends, experience.)
This is where many people let go of their dreams – in that space of thinking that you need more degrees or certifications before you can start going after what you want.
Don’t be fooled by that thinking! That’s just fear pulling at you from a different direction. Start without that paper and see what you can accomplish.
Everything I know I learned on the internet
Another big reason people don’t get started on their dreams is the logistics.
How will I find an art studio that fits with my needs? How will I learn Quicken to manage my books? How can I be a blogger if I don’t know anything about social media, marketing, passive income, subscription services, etc.? How do I put up an Etsy site?
But all of those things are just the logistics behind the one big decision.
Once you decide to commit yourself to something, then all of those logistics become just that – logistics. Not show stoppers.
We live in amazing times, where everything – absolutely everything – is a simple Google search away, usually with a video included. My recent searches have included “How to add a Google map to my website” (um, yeah, that still hasn’t happened) to “Best positive psychology blogs”. You can find what you need that’s either very specific or just plain inspirational.
We also live in a super connected digital age.
If there’s something you want to do, chances are, someone out there is already doing it – and writing a blog about it.
You can connect with their secret Facebook group and gain that community of people who are also painting pictures of dogs. Or writing about vampires. Or marine biologists who work with dolphins. Or accountants who work for the elderly. Or Etsy sellers of cable-knit Star Wars characters.(You get the point…)
And, best of all, if you still decide that it’s something that you really don’t want to learn…then the Google Master can find someone that can do it for you. (If you happen to be a Google Maps expert, let me know.)
What’s holding you back? Are you falling victim to logistics? What do you want to accomplish in the new year?
