Just Do It
How to Act Fast and Learn Quickly From Missteps
In the new world of online tech and ability, I didn’t think the culmination of my journey as an aspiring entrepreneur, would amount to referencing an old Nike slogan as life advice.
The funny thing is, as a kid growing up in the late ’80s, I never really understood the deeper meaning. Sure, I knew it meant to get up and go and do. Amped up from binge listening to Gary Vaynerchuk, I’m damn sure pumped up and ready to do it! Whatever it is! Let’s roll!
But “why” was something that hadn’t occurred to me at the time. Why is everyone so concerned with just doing it? What are we doing, where are we going?
Being a serial “wantrepreneur” for most of my life, I’ve had my share of failures and not the success that has really given me the life I want. Most of my missteps were due to lacking confidence in myself to “Just Do It.” I learned you have to be willing to fail at high speeds. I started to take each loss personally. I wanted to be able to sell my wares and put out content every day without giving a shit what negative people thought.
The Key
The importance of immediately acting on your passion is something that I can’t stress enough. I had deployed tons of excuses. Nothing is ever perfect on the first draft. When you first publish a website, you won’t have a stampede of traffic to your site in your first month. You will have plenty of time to adjust as you go. See what works and what doesn’t.
In marketing, there are fancy terms like “A/B testing” and “focus groups”. Use your circle of friends or co-workers to give you honest feedback on whatever your project is. Take the time to find your niche and where your customer is focusing their attention.
Attention, Attention, Attention
You have to get in front of your customer and get noticed. Believe in your own abilities. Also, remember to get out of your own way.
The other part of the equation is understanding that learning just enough to be dangerous, is dangerous. There were a lot of skills that I had learned, but not mastered in the right way. The one skill that I did master though, to my own demise, was convincing myself that I could win by using shortcuts. I literally thought that I could prove I could succeed by gaining just enough information to apply and hoped that strategy would bring results. In the long run, it brought nothing.
The Trick Is Knowing What Is Really Enough.
Accelerated learning and speed reading can help you increase your learning speed and comprehension through structured processes. These processes will help you utilize your time in a structured manner to learn the most important key aspects of the chosen subject.
Once you have a broad foundation laid, you can build upon it as you go. What often gets unnoticed by outsiders is the actual time put in. The waking up early, staying up late to go the extra mile. That’s you maximizing your time and being willing to do more than everyone else.
I was trying to attempt to climb a ladder by jumping over as many rungs as possible. That is a dangerous task, my friend. It took a few years, but I had finally learned the hard lesson about perseverance.
Understanding What Perseverance Means
Keep running up the same hill, the same way every day? How about never giving up and changing course as much as needed until you reach the top?
You must realize the need for being adaptable and flexible while you are on your journey. I had made the common mistake of trying to run the same rat race, the same damn way, while thinking that if I didn’t give up that I would one day get lucky. That’s not what perseverance means.
What perseverance really means is to reevaluate your failure and yourself, never give up and find another plan of attack until you find a way that wins.
Just Get up and Go Already
Put something out there and learn to enjoy watching it get torn to shreds in the shark tank of life. Then you know what works for you and what doesn’t. Every time, you learn something in the process. That is how you perfect your craft and yourself.
There are no shortcuts. There are ways to succeed and ways not to. You must put in the effort and continue to learn, the right way.
Those that want a destination for their education, usually ends up staying in the proverbial rat race. Punching time clocks to fulfill someone else’s ambitions is bull crap.
Follow Your Passions, Make Your Dreams Come True.
No one can do it for you and don’t put your hopes on winning the lotto. In the end, you don’t win anything. You earn it.
Once you do get started, it’s a liberating feeling. To know that you began the journey and are ready to face the challenges ahead. It’s not a road for everyone. For those of us with entrepreneurial blood, we know that by subjecting ourselves to these strict conditions we will be able to obtain the life we want.
What life do you want? Are you ready to “Just Do It?”
