We all have 100 good ideas and dreams as humans. Personally, I would like to start my own café every time I walk into a cute coffee place. I already envision myself as the owner and part-time barista welcoming customers. Other times I see something online and I think to myself, I could do a better job at this. I know the audience better. But the truth is: how will we know the outcome if we never try?
Priorities
Let’s start with prioritizing. For me, I have a lot of ideas all the time. But some things are simply just not a priority. Those ideas are fine as a “what could’ve been” thought because they are not at the top of my list. For example, opening up a café is not at the top of my list. One, because to run a café you need to invest a lot of time. Time that I’m not willing to give up on other aspects of my life. Also, in Amsterdam, there are lots of cute cafés, like Yusu. Other things are a priority for me like this platform. I am determined to provide motivational content and curate the information that is already available on the internet. This idea kept coming back to me several times and that’s when I knew this idea was worth pursuing.
Before you try
Ryan Holiday mentioned in the podcast “Deep Dive” that amateurs are obsessed with tools. And honestly, I have been there myself. When I wanted to start a podcast, I first researched what the best equipment would be. When I wanted to create content and write articles, I bought numerous planners. It was an adrenaline rush but it wasn’t encouraging me to actually start. Now don’t get me wrong. I think planning and preparation are very useful but once these tools are used as a way of procrastination it gets downhill from there.
Where to start
Okay so now the fun part. Suppose you have your priorities straight and you are done with all the planning and preparations. Then comes the time to walk to that starting line and take off. But in reality, this can be really scary. No worries below you can find helpful ways to kick-start your idea.
1 | Allow yourself 5 failures a day
Caroline Wanga and Sarah Blakely have something in common. They both see failure as a given. Sarah Blakely, founder of Spanx, was encouraged at a young age to fail something every week. Caroline Wanga, CEO of Essence, even allows herself 5 failures a day! She allows herself this many failures before she can make it a bad day. This helps you to bounce back faster from a failure and prevents you from determining the outcome of your day by your mood. Also, when you get good at failing, you are less anxious to try something new. Want to read more about failing? You can find the article here.
2 | The beginner’s mind
In this article, the concept of the beginner’s mind is explained. It basically means that we need to have an open mind to things. Even to things that we have already done in the past. It helps you create curiosity and to start being excited to try new things.
No regrets
Another incentive to start is the realization that if you don’t start, you won’t know how good it gets. We all know the quote: “What if I fail? Oh darling, but what if you fly.” You need to ask yourself whether the cost of not trying weighs heavier than the cost of regret. And with that, I leave you this week. I hope this article was helpful to you!
Source image: Unsplash, Jared Poledna
