I was struggling to start a Podcast for 2 years from 2015-2017.
I let self-limiting beliefs from childhood creep in when I was on the brink of starting.
I kept making excuses.
I never started.
When people say they want to write a book what they mean is they want to publish a book.
When people say they want to run a marathon what they mean is they want to finish the marathon.
When people say they want to do something what they generally mean is they want the feeling of completing something.
There is a gap between the act of starting and the glory of finishing.
Where are you on the “starting spectrum”?
Are you feeling stuck?
Are you excited but fearful?
Are you thinking about ideas?
Are you trying to “find the time”?
Are you observing like-minded folks?
Are you curious about how to grow and evolve?
The action of starting ends up being a lot easier when we’ve already started in our minds.
The action is connected to the need to change.
Is the life you have today the one you want?
If not, it’s the perfect time to start creating a new one for yourself.
Thinking you have to have it all figured out is your imaginary blockade to start.
The pop culture phenomena that we become awestruck with were made up of people just like you and me.
From a mixture of environment, observation, imagination, twisted reality, hard work, and a touch of luck these creations came into being.
The only reason it appears to work is because others have been doing it.
The “winners write history” as the saying goes.
But it doesn’t mean you have to do it that way.
Of the 8 billion humans on this planet, less than a few dozen would know simple facts about our great-grandparents.
Of those, most could barely share but a few details about our great-great-grandparents.
Almost nobody has a clue about our great-great-great grandparents.
The people that inspire us were making it up as they went along.
They didn’t have it figured out either.
They were distracted.
They were depressed.
They were cruel to themselves.
They wanted to quit many times.
“You’re not a Children’s book author”
That was a loop running in my head daily back in 2012 after I had written most of my first children’s book.
Then I shelved it for 7 years. Why?
If you asked me 15-years-ago I was going to be one of the best PGA Teaching Professionals in the country.
Golf was what I knew and it was the only thing I was highly excited about.
Let’s acknowledge all of the “Starters” and not just the Entrepreneurs.
A lot of things posted on social media categorize the people “doing things” only as entrepreneurs.
That’s a small minority.
Nothing happens until you start.
No experience.
No learning.
No failure.
No nothing.
Nothing that is going to be worth it, in the long run, will be easy to start today.
So if you’re wondering if should you do it or not, the answer is an emphatic YES!
We don’t read a whole book in one sitting.
It’s done Paragraph by paragraph.
Chapter by chapter.
Word by word.
That’s how any meaningful work is completed.
Starting is the hardest part.
There’s no denying that.
Whether starting something brand new or beginning from the starting line again.
Starting is unknown. And that scares us.
Starting back from the beginning is one of the hardest parts of life.
We question whether the investment was worth it.
But are we really starting over? Is this the same starting point?
We all experience the first-day jitters.
First time speaking in front of an audience.
First day of a new school year.
First time getting in the game.
First date.
The cataclysmic discovery that can change the course of our life is the realization that almost nobody is thinking about us almost all of the time.
At first, it appears devastating until we realize that this is the same for everyone.
When this “aha” moment appears it begins to free us of the shackles that hold us into place and don’t allow us to start.
What did we fail at today?
Failing means that we tried something uncomfortable or difficult and pushed ourselves a tad into a world of discomfort.
If we get caught up comparing ourselves to others, we must remember this…
They are not a mile ahead of us. They are only just a few feet.
The difference is that they decided to start and hyperdrive their output.
Perfect doesn’t exist.
We’ll make mistakes. We’ll fail. We’ll embarrass ourselves.
Something is bound to go wrong.
When we are devouring some dessert in the aftermath of the Thanksgiving feast this year let that give us some perspective and a metaphor we can use for our lives.
The dessert didn’t make itself.
There were ingredients that were necessary to make that specific recipe and they didn’t peel, mix, whisk, or bake themselves.
Use this time before the holidays get ramped up to start. Block just 30 minutes this week to plan out how you are going to work on this through the holidays or tackle this project when it gets “busy”. What do the next few weeks look like until the New Year?
Similar to yesterday, the earth made a full rotation. We didn’t feel it but we know it happened. We are back to the same spot where we started.
Blocking out the noise and going to do what we feel compelled to do sounds easier said than done at times. We often hear the opinions of others and let that in some way give us a false start and second guess the endeavors or ideas we want to go tackle.
Starting anything can be intense and overwhelming. We’ve been great at other things and are comfortable in those environments now. It’d make sense to keep doing those things.
Starting always takes energy, lots of energy. No matter what it is.
If you want to accomplish anything you must set goals. We hear this all day every day and although this is sound advice it also comes with caution because goals can be a safe haven for procrastination.
Today could be that day. Maybe it was yesterday or it could be tomorrow.
At some point, there is a beginning to something new.
Have you ever watched a kid play in the sandbox?
Some waddle in, others go full-throttle, while plenty scope out the landscape before they enter.
I’ve never seen a kid not go in when the thought of playing in one is presented to them.
EPISODE 126
Chief Experience Officer, Tisha Marie Enterprises, LLC
Back in 2015 when I first began thinking of starting a podcast there were a lot of ideas in my head about what to do and how to go about it. After overthinking, making excuses, and ultimately failing at starting for two years, I finally took the leap and begun. Thus, the podcast name “Just Get Started” was born.
Do you know what these numbers signify?
880 Days…5,300 hours…100 People
The numbers above equal 880 days since I started the Podcast, over 300 hours of editing, over 5,000 hours of content, and over 100 Guests….and the Just Get Started Podcast is just heating up.
I hope everyone reading this appreciates the fact that we live in a very strange world (a good strange), and a far different world than just 10 years ago. I’m referring to the opportunities all of us have to quench our thirst for knowledge and explore the far reaches of the world from behind our digital screens. This has given us a chance to interact with people from all walks of life that the “small town” generations prior couldn’t even fathom.