Dear Designers,
For a long time, I was a classic what-if’er.
I could to this but what if that?
It was a problem that I now realize was rooted in fear even if at the time I convinced myself that I was just trying to avoid mistakes. I would tell myself that I needed to be careful, I needed to proceed with caution, I needed to think long and hard about what I was doing.
I’ve gotten over that.
This is not to say that a bit of thinking before doing is never a good idea. It’s simply to say that too much thinking before doing keeps us from making progress.
It seems counter-intuitive that a successful business relies on less planning; you’re always hearing how you need a plan. And you do. The distinction is that you don’t need an overly-detailed, every little thing covered, projections-based, tome.
When you work on things like that, you lose a lot of time debating about direction, second guessing ideas, and re-thinking decisions. You need to stop debating and start doing.
Listen, I realize that money is tight and mistakes can be expensive. But there has to be a point when you realize that all the what-if’s will will never be solved and that you could spend months or even years debating the steps you’re going to take only to realize your time to jump has passed. Life happens. None of us have any idea what’s in store and if we don’t make the decision to act, we may not ever feel like we’re ready.
Here’s the secret: No one has the answers.
No one can tell us exactly what to do. No one knows for sure what’s going to work. And if we’re waiting around for that, hemming and hawing, and debating, we’re going to miss our opportunity.
There’s no better way to figure something out than by trying it. Business ownership is risky. We all know this. The more we let ourselves get lost in that maze of what-if’s, the less likely we are to make a move.
So if you’re reading this and thinking, “yeah that’s me.” Stop.
Stop waiting, stop debating, stop what-if’ing, and start doing!
Lots of love and encouragement,
