04 - Confession: I always start before I'm ready (And Why You Should Too)

"Remember, our enemy is not lack of preparation; it’s not the difficulty of the project or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account. The enemy is Resistance." - Steven Pressfield, Do the Work

The most extraordinary results in my life came from starting before I felt ready.

Some of the best things unfolded by taking imperfect action, from businesses to marketing campaigns and projects to relationships.

It goes against our societal programming.

We're taught to have all our ducks in a row first. But that's a myth. You'll never feel 100% ready. And waiting just feeds resistance.

It's not about checking every box and addressing every objection. It's about taking the first step from where you are now.

Beware the endless cycle of consumption.

I used to wait to get motivated as if something external would push me to get up and take action.

So I'd consume stuff - books, podcasts, blogs, videos, seminars, you name it - and that act of consuming would make me feel like I'd taken action.

But that was just lying to myself.

So, I stalled on doing the work.

Then, I'd get annoyed that I wasn't making progress.

But there's nobody else to blame - just the person staring back at me when I looked in the mirror.

It was an endless cycle of hope -> consumption -> comparison -> self-shaming.

I saw this pattern being repeated by others, too.

Maybe you can relate?

Some of the best outcomes sprang from audacious ideas and bold, imperfect actions.

Here's an insight from Malcolm Gladwell in his book "Outliers: The Story of Success":

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."

This sentiment couldn't be more accurate.

Remember The Beatles?

As Gladwell shared in his book, it wasn’t just their inherent talent but their relentless hours of practice in Hamburg's clubs (often playing in front of little or no crowds, and initially crowds that didn't like what they were playing).

They spent thousands of hours refining their craft until they were eventually recognised.

Echoing that mastery - be it in music or marketing - demands consistent effort and practice.

This goes against what many 'experts' preach.

We're told to follow certain formulas, to wait for the "perfect" conditions.

But let's be real. Perfect conditions rarely exist. You'll never feel 100% ready. Every moment you wait, you're giving resistance more power.

Yet, as Gladwell aptly puts it,

"It's not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words. It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't."

This drives home the point that understanding the journey is as crucial as acknowledging the success.

It’s not about tailoring your idea to fit every piece of advice. It's about taking that leap based on your unique insights and gut feelings.

Then, once you've taken that first leap, more like a step, you've made progress.

Then you take another step and another, and before you know it, you're motivated to keep going.

Progress creates motivation.

Read that last sentence again.

But Anf, what if I fail?

Ah yes, our wonderful friend failure.

Are you familiar with Loom software? If you work remotely, chances you are.

But were you aware of how they got started?

Here's what Shahed K. , co-founder of Loom, shared this week in an insightful post:

Loom didn’t begin as Loom. It started around a whiteboard with Vinay, Joe, and myself. We wrote down six ideas, and went with the solution that had the lowest risk & barrier to entry: A user testing marketplace. We began building. 7 months in, we only made $600 and learned an important lesson: Companies generally cared less about advice from experts (what we were selling). Instead, they wanted to hear directly from their own users. We pivoted.

As you can see, failure is an important part of the Loom success story. As it is with all our pursuits.

Failure might not feel great in the moment, but it's a crucial part of the journey towards success. Here are three reasons why failure is essential:

?? Learning and Growth: Every setback comes with lessons that propel us forward.

?? Resilience and Adaptation: Overcoming failures builds our ability to bounce back and thrive in any situation.

?? Innovation and Creativity: Failure sparks fresh ideas and pushes us to explore new paths.

My (not-so-secret) productivity hack: collaboration.

As Gladwell points out,

"No one - not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses - ever makes it alone."

Consider Steve Jobs. His partnership with Steve Wozniak was pivotal for Apple.

(image source: Flickr)

Their union was the epitome of combining visionary design with technical brilliance, illustrating that groundbreaking ideas and businesses often arise from pooling diverse talents.

In my experience, it always helps to get a project moving when I get others involved.

Asking for others to get involved could look like:

• A request for feedback on something you're working on,
• An invitation to collab and create something together,
• Launching a new product or service (case study: here's how I helped Bean Ninjas with successfully launching 2 online courses),
• Inviting people you respect to add their 2c to a question or topic you're curious about as it'll help you skill up (here's how I did this last month),
• Asking someone to share something you've done because it's valuable to their audience, or
• Asking your community to vote in your poll.

I'm doing the thing...

In Dec last year, I wrote down that one of my goals for 2023 was to produce video content for my YouTube channel, where I'm the one sharing my stories and experience (not where I'm interviewing other experts).

Long story short, I put it in the "too hard" basket. I slept on it for more than nine months! (If I'm really honest, this has been years in my "one day" bucket)

And then, a few days ago, two very peculiar things happened:

1. My buddy George Siosi Samuels shared on X that round 2 of his 30-day #xgsd video challenge was kicking off (and that my amazing friend and Creator May King Tsang was joining). The goal? Post one video per day on X for thirty days.
2. I saw this video from Gary Vee, where he said:

"Are you f--- kidding me? You want to change the world with one post a week?.... Are you scared of judgment? Are you scared of not having a lot of followers? Are you scared of what people are gonna think? That's what we got to work on here."

So with that swift kick up the butt on Sept 1, against my strong resistance, I decided to join the challenge. Here's my first video:

The funny thing is that it wasn't as scary as I'd made it out to be in my head, and I even found a neat tool to make the process easier.

I found an Android app called Blink. It has an AI script writer and teleprompter, and it does auto-captions, too. I used all of those for my video.

This whole experience reminds me of a quote from one of my favourite books:

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

What's one thing you've been sitting on while waiting to "be ready"? Let me know in the comments.

Maybe it's time to start. Let's support each other to make it happen, shall we?

See you next week,

Anf Chans ?

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