There is something I struggle with, and I know I’m not alone. It’s the fallacy that a plan or way of doing things will be perfect. It’s the idea that I shouldn’t start something because I’ll be doing it wrong and that’s a waste of time. The idea that if I search a little longer for the best way to do a thing, it will save me time in the long run. Better to get it perfect right out of the gate.
The obvious problem is that there’s never one perfect way to do a thing. The other problem is that the person who does a crappy job at least did something, as opposed to me researching and just thinking about doing something.
Allow me a very brief illustration.
The ice machine in my freezer had been broken for a month. Sounds like a small deal, right? Nope, giant jugs of water needed filling. We go through a ton of ice in my house.
One Saturday I decided to tackle this terrifying problem. I hemmed and hawed and, finally, caved in and got to work.
In 15 minutes, we had a working ice machine. The ice tray had frozen. I thawed out the tray and put it back, and that was it. I spent the next 2 days reminding my wife what a genius she had for a husband and how fortunate she is to now have ice.
The point here is that it took me a month to build up the courage to try and fix the ice machine. Stupid. Of course, I don’t know anything about fixing ice machines. Who cares? Take a shot already.
Getting started is the key. I didn’t get any smarter or learn anything great along the way with the ice machine, but now we have ice. What I see happen a lot is that once we get started on a thing, we start getting better at it.
You may be paralyzed deciding on a study location. Then, you make a decision.
You think that your kitchen table is the best place for you to study and that you’ll use the coffee shop in the morning. Well, your first trip to the coffee shop is a disaster. First, you go there at 5:30 AM, and they don’t open until 6 AM. There’s no heater for the outside seating. Ugh.
But, you know what’s amazing? 9 times out of 10 as you walk home angrily you see a nearby park with a pavilion that has tables overlooking a little brook. You could be online for coffee at 6 and sitting in this perfect setting by 6:10. This spot is way better than the coffee shop ever would have been.
If you never tried, you would never have found the better spot. It happens all the time.
Do the imperfect, and you’ll get better and learn more. You’ll add in new pieces as you go. You’ll stumble across people and ideas that you never would have sitting and planning forever.
Get Started and Get Better.
One great way to get started is to commit to spending 15 minutes per day with The Final Step.
Just an idea.
Brian Wallace