Master how to start anything you want and actually get moving.
Learning how to start something new should be a required class. Unfortunately, there isn’t any requirements when it comes to this. I had to struggle and figure it out. I’m still mastering this, but I have found a few things that you have to do if you want to actually get started on something new.
If you have some idea that you have been sitting on and you haven’t worked up the strength to actually get something started — you are not alone. Turns out many people struggle with this. There are those people that know what they want and just start without hesitation. They just get up and start with anything. It dooesn’t matter if it is out of order or incorrectly done, they just start. For a lot of us, it just isn’t so easy.
I had my own share of struggles when it came to this. I had so many different ideas bottled up within me. However, I was never able to bring them to life. People struggle with starting something new. It can be scary to some, and it can actually paralyze you if you let it. Fear of failure can get the best of you and your ideas.
Personally, I couldn’t allow for my fears to take over the things I know I want to do out of love. There had to be a way to overcome this and I am going to share what I learned in hopes that you can get started without half the resistance I experienced.
Here are 12 Tips I learned on my journey on starting something new:
Create a Mind Map
We all have great ideas floating in our heads. Often times, we just never take them serious enough to actually do something about them. I have found, that all of those great ideas need to be captured. The best way I have found how to do that is to create a mind map. By creating a mind map you can just start jotting things down and see where they all take you. A mind map will allow you to organize what you have upstairs and put all of the pieces together.
Define What You Want
Whatever it is that you have within you, that one thing you feel you should be doing but don’t know where or how to start — define it! I have had some great ideas, but in the end they mean nothing to me. There is no connection, there is no passion, just a great idea. Some ideas will linger and just find their way back to you no matter how much you try to let them go. These are callings and if you can learn to define what it is that you want to start and why, you will feel less resistance or that sense of confusion on what to do next.
Write it Down
Too often, people have these great ideas or stories in their heads and they revisit them over and over but they never put up the courage to write them down. From my experiences, writing things down has always helped me tremendously. Not just starting something new, but actually finishing it too. The next time that you reach that mental pocket, where you are going over something that you are passionate about or you know it is what you want to start next, write it down! Capture it!
The beginning is always trash
This is the most valuable to me. The quicker that you realize that your first iteration of whatever it is you set out to do is going to be trash your first few attempts, the easier it will be to start something new. I tell my girls all the time — “it’s just like riding a bike.” Because doing something new really is like riding a bike. Your first time riding a bike is usually pure trash. You hop on and you fall off. Then you repeat the cycle until you improve your skills. Eventually with time, patience and practice you are cruising 😎
Avoid perfectionism
Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) likes to advocate that perfectionism is the twin sister of insecurity. We all want things to go great, to be perfect the first time around. For what? Because, we are afraid of people seeing us at our lowest. We want for everyone to see us receiving the award, but we cringe at the thought of people seeing our mistakes and shortcomings.
The only way around this toxic thought process that society imposes on us, is to understand that perfectionism is going to keep you right where you are. Stagnant. So kick perfectionism to the side and become friends with humility and progression. You will start something new and people will tell you mean, hurtful, discouraging things. They want the final product right out the gate. People will expect you to be perfect your first time around and if you fail, its automatically a disappointment. It’s ridiculous. Don’t let perfectionism get the best of you. Go out there and fail your face off.
Just Start
We want to wait until we find the perfect time, the perfect season, the perfect product, the perfect place. We just went over how perfectionism will paralyze you. If you are constantly waiting for that perfect moment, you will lose a ridiculous amount of time. Why? Because there is no perfect time.
You need to just start. Forget about where you start, or how you start off. Hell, it can be in the totally opposite direction of where you should be starting. The tweaking and the progression will come with time. The important part is just to start anywhere you’d like, but just start!
Think in Terms of Years 🌱
When you have really found something that is worth going after in your life, you are onto something. It is imperative that you begin to think of your project in terms of years and not weeks or months. There is this crazy notion out there that all of these great things in life come easy. They come to you quick. Nobody came to break the news to me. I had to learn over and over again. Failing multiple times at the things I wanted out of life all because I thought they should be coming to me “quicker.” God forbid, I thought about something in years. That would mean a long time. No, no, it needed to be quicker. If it was taking years, then I must be doing something wrong.
Turns out, the things that are most valuable in life take years to build, to obtain and to master. Put yourself in the mind frame that whatever it is that you want to set out to do, it’s going to take time. Give yourself years to do the things you love. Don’t settle for quick and easy journeys. The work that comes out the other end is always far more superior. Plant those seeds 🌱
Welcome The Feedback
Feedback is our best friend when we are looking to self-improve. I would hope that if you are going to start something, you eventually want to master it. The goal is to think big here. Learning how to start something new, is not just about brushing your teeth one extra time throughout your day. If all of this information helps you do that — then great!
However, I would like to think that we are talking about big plans here. Moves within your life that are going to make you better, bring you financial freedom, and help you grow within your passion. If we are on the same page here, then we need to welcome the feedback that we get. It’s going to suck at times, but just use it as fuel to make you better. Use it as an outside perspective to correct the little things you yourself cannot see.
Work On Your Insecurities
Regardless of what you have been doing with your time in the past, starting something new is bound to bring out some insecurities within you and your work. It is ok to feel insecure about something new. You don’t know it well enough to stand there confidently and say you know exactly what you are doing. This takes time. A lot of it.
The good news is that you can work on your insecurities. This is why feedback is so important. Learn where and why your insecurities stem from. Stare them down. Do not run from them. Use hard work as a way to iron them out. We all are fearful starting something new. You will feel insecure about your work in the beginning. Embrace this and flip it on its head to help you become a master.
Find Your WHY
There is always a reason as to why we want to start something or do something. Especially, if it is new. There has to be a reason as to why you want it. Figuring this out will become your driving force. The problem is too many people go into something and they don’t know why they are doing it. Or better yet, they forget. So when adversity strikes or moments where motivation is non existent, they quit. Avoid this by defining your WHY. Take some time to yourself alone, and begin to dissect your next move, your next project.
Decide
Once you have done all of this work and you reach this point, you are ready to decide if this is something you really want for yourself. You must decide. It cannot be one of those things where you have one foot in and one foot out ready for your opportunity to run if things go wrong. This will never get you anywhere. In fact, what it will do is drive you to quit real quick. Take time to think about it and if it is something you want to go after, then you decide on that.
The reason this becomes important is because whatever it is you choose to start new, there will be moments of darkness. Moments where you will want to throw in the towel and say you weren’t good enough. If you decide that this new thing is something you want, you will make yourself good enough.
Commit
Commitment to me is a promise between me, myself and I. If I am going to take on a commitment, then it is something that no matter what takes place – I am going to see it through. I will latch onto that one thing and it is going to take an army to get me off.
The same goes for you. If you are not good at it, then you make yourself good at it. You will practice and just continue the path until you get the hang of it. Starting something new is not easy and it will test you. It will sometimes demand the best version of yourself. So you need to go in and stand strong so that nothing blows you off course.
Be Kind To yourself
Lastly, learn to be kind to yourself. Our thoughts are our own personal garden. If you are are not careful, weeds will start to grow in your garden, potentially killing all of the crops you have worked hard to cultivate. Be mindful of your mental garden and make time to pull out any weeds that lurk their way in. Starting something new is never an easy task. Be kind to yourself throughout your journey. Allow for yourself to make mistakes and give yourself the opportunity to get right back up and go at it one more time.
Final Note
I have wanted to start so many things in my life, but I always found a way to stand within my own path. Focusing on all of the wrong things. It wasn’t until I threw perfectionism out the window and adopted the mentality that I am going to build something from scratch and allow myself to make mistakes that I found the way.
Learn to think in terms of years and learn to become excited over what can be built over time when you start something new.
Learn to fall in love with the process of starting with pure garbage, and working it slowly into pure gold.
