I’m always amazed by some of the ideas that people come up with to have their own business and do something cool. They can talk at length about the topic and how it can benefit people. The fact that they are completely paralyzed from actually doing it continues to be a mystery to me. It would be the baseball equivalent of being afraid to go to the plate because you might strikeout. Are you getting out of your own way? We forget that Babe Ruth held both the home run and strikeout records for years. I believe it was Wayne Gretzky that said, “you will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.
A friend of mine is in a business that is seeing a decline as a result of COVID. He will probably need to change jobs at some point in the near to immediate future. He has always had a really good idea to take his career in a different direction. No matter how hard I try, it’s not something that he is comfortable dealing with. He’s not alone. It’s sort of the business equivalent of stage fright. I had another friend who had a great idea for a website. We got the whole thing set up and she did nothing with it for over a year. Eventually, she let the domain expire. Some people just can’t get out of their own way.
Failure to Launch
I’ve seen this many times, unfortunately, people have great ideas and no follow-through. Getting out of your own way can be challenging. If you continue to do what you’re doing, you’re going to get what you’ve been getting. It seems rather simple but it doesn’t seem to sink in for a lot of people. You’ve probably heard the expression about the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know. It’s always going to be more comfortable staying where you are, even if it’s not where you want to be. We don’t grow in a comfortable environment. We need to be challenged to move forward.
What’s It Going to Take?
Most people need a wake-up call that says things are not working and you need to do something different to move forward. Not everybody’s capable of doing that on their own. Sometimes it takes a crazy commitment or a challenge that puts them in the right direction. What’s holding you back? Sometimes it’s as simple as breaking what you want to do down into bite-size chunks. Start with 15 minutes a day and work your way up. Most people can launch a new business with about 15 hours per week. We all have the ability, we just need to rediscover it. If you ask a 5-year-old to be a tree or an astronaut, they don’t give you reasons why they can’t do it. They just do it. We need to get back in touch with our inner 5-year-old. They may have some of the answers we are looking for.
