YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS TO BEGIN
YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS TO BEGIN
Sometimes beginning is how you get the proof.
There is probably something you've been thinking about doing.
Maybe you've been thinking about it for a week.
Maybe a year.
Maybe you've carried it around so long that you've gotten used to calling it a dream instead of admitting that somewhere along the way, it became something you're afraid to begin.
And maybe the problem isn't that you don't know what you want.
Maybe you're waiting to know how it ends before you're willing to start.
You want to know it will work.
You want to know you won't waste your money.
You want to know you won't embarrass yourself.
You want to know somebody will buy it.
You want to know you're good enough.
You want to know you won't fail.
You want proof.
There's only one problem.
Sometimes beginning is how you get the proof.
WE HAVE MADE STARTING WAY TOO COMPLICATED
Somewhere along the way, we started believing that beginning something requires us to already know how to do it.
Want to start a business?
Better have a business plan.
A logo.
A website.
An LLC.
Inventory.
Money.
Social media.
Advertising.
Packaging.
Accounting.
And apparently you need to understand seventeen things you've never even heard of before breakfast.
Want to start writing?
First you need to decide what you're writing, where you're publishing it, what your brand is, who your audience is, what font you're going to use and whether anybody is going to read it.
Want to start selling something?
Now we're researching platforms, fees, shipping, taxes, photographs, descriptions, algorithms and whether Mercury is in retrograde.
Good grief.
No wonder people don't start.
We have turned the starting line into a final exam.
It isn't.
Starting is supposed to be the place where you DON'T know everything yet.
That's why it's called starting.
YOUR FIRST STEP DOESN'T NEED TO BE IMPRESSIVE
Here's something that might take some pressure off.
Your first step can be terrible.
Seriously.
Your first picture can look bad.
Your first listing can get zero views.
Your first video can make you cringe six months from now.
Your first attempt might not sell.
Your first idea might change completely.
You might discover halfway through that you don't even like what you thought you wanted to do.
That's okay.
Because the purpose of the first step isn't to prove that you're brilliant.
The purpose of the first step is to create a second step.
That's it.
You learn something.
Then you adjust.
You try again.
Then you learn something else.
Eventually, those little pieces of information start becoming experience.
Experience starts becoming confidence.
Confidence creates movement.
And movement begins showing you possibilities you couldn't see while you were standing still.
STOP ASKING THE BEGINNING TO PROVE THE END
This is where I think a lot of us get stuck.
We ask questions that can't possibly be answered yet.
What if nobody buys it?
What if I fail?
What if I spend six months doing this and it doesn't work?
What if people laugh?
What if somebody else already does it better?
What if this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing?
Those are ending questions.
And you're standing at the beginning.
You can't demand that Chapter One explain Chapter Twenty.
You haven't written Chapters Two through Nineteen yet.
Some of the answers you're looking for only exist on the other side of action.
That's uncomfortable.
I know.
But uncertainty doesn't automatically mean STOP.
Sometimes uncertainty simply means:
YOU HAVEN'T FOUND OUT YET.
There's a big difference.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE YOUR MIND
This one is important.
Starting something does not mean you have signed a lifetime contract with your idea.
You are allowed to begin something and discover it isn't for you.
You're allowed to change the product.
Change the plan.
Change the name.
Change the price.
Change the direction.
You're even allowed to stop.
That isn't necessarily failure.
Sometimes discovering what doesn't fit is exactly how you get closer to what does.
But you can't learn that from the sidelines.
You learn it by participating.
By touching it.
Trying it.
Building it.
Breaking it.
Fixing it.
Living with it long enough to understand it.
That's how ideas become real.
CONFIDENCE USUALLY SHOWS UP LATE
People often say:
"I'll do it when I feel more confident."
That's backwards.
Confidence usually isn't waiting at the starting line.
Confidence is built on the road.
You do something you weren't sure you could do.
Then you realize you survived it.
You do it again.
You're a little better.
You solve a problem.
Then another.
One day you look backward and realize something strange happened.
The thing that once scared you has become normal.
You didn't wait until you had confidence.
You earned confidence by moving without it.
START SMALL ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY START
You don't need to launch the company today.
Sell one thing.
You don't need to write the book today.
Write one page.
You don't need to completely change your life today.
Change one decision.
You don't need fifty customers.
Find the first one.
You don't need to know exactly what you're building.
Build enough to learn what the next piece needs to be.
Small doesn't mean insignificant.
Small means possible.
And possible beats perfect every single time if perfect keeps you standing still.
SO HERE'S YOUR START
I'm not going to give you a twenty-seven-step checklist.
That would completely defeat the point of this article.
I'm giving you one question:
What is ONE thing you can do today that makes your idea more real than it was yesterday?
Not tomorrow.
Not Monday.
Not when you have more money.
Not when somebody gives you permission.
Today.
Maybe you make the phone call.
Take the picture.
Post the listing.
Write the paragraph.
Research the name.
Ask the question.
Send the message.
Make the offer.
Open the box.
Clean the workspace.
Create the account.
Put the idea on paper.
Whatever it is, make it small enough that you can't hide behind how complicated it is.
Then do it.
Tomorrow?
Do the next thing.
Because you don't need proof that the entire journey is going to work before you're allowed to take the first step.
You don't need to see the finish line.
You don't even need to know exactly where it is yet.
You don't have to know where this goes.
You just have to decide whether you're willing to find out.
And if you are?
START.
Opportunity Is Everywhere.
Find It. Build It. Sell It. Share It.