“Well, first, I need to make a plan,” said every single person in this world who wanted to take on a scary endeavor.
And I get it: plans are safe.
Plans help us feel useful. They help us check things off our list. They help us know that we are doing something.
But what if your plan is just your looks-good-on-paper way of procrastinating?
What if you threw your plan out the window?
What if, instead of waiting for the right time, you started right now. Today.
{No, not like hypothetically. Like really today. I want you to actually start the day you read this post.}
That doesn’t mean you have to quit your job or sell your house or go live in a van today.
But it does mean that you have to do something. Anything. Anything at all. To just get started.
I always ask my clients, “What’s the very first next step?”
Note: very first next step. I don’t ask, “What are all the steps you need to do ever?” because that isn’t helpful. This type of planning is futile because the steps change as you start down your path.
You might realize that you need a different pair of shoes or that you’d rather hike in a completely different park or that you’re hungry and need to take a break or that trail-running is your jam because hiking is so sllooooow. Whatever the case may be, if you plan out the entire journey step-by-painstaking-step, you don’t even allow yourself the opportunity to see and then follow that one crazy butterfly just because you love its colors.
We are really so good at planning, and the internet doesn’t help. How often do you get stalled in the research phase? I loooove researching new projects. What I don’t love as much is implementing.
Because the implementing takes courage. And effort. And chutzpah.
The chutzpah to believe that you might actually be on to something.
That it might actually work.
That you might actually have a winning idea.
It’s much easier to spend all of our time on pinterest gathering inspiration, isn’t it?
Except, don’t forget: Unless you’re on staff there, Pinterest isn’t paying your bills. Pinterest isn’t going to be The Thing that is your tipping point. Yes, it’s a tool. So use it as such. Use all of the internet as such.
Yes, eventually, you might want to have a plan, a spreadsheet with numbers and deliverables and not-to-miss dates, but we all think we need that to start. We don’t. Promise. We really don’t.
So, just get moving. Find that very first next step and take it. Today.
Yes, it might be uncomfortable and scary and feel really big. You might feel crazy for thinking it might work. You might say, “but nobody is going to understand it.” So what? Do it anyway?
{You might just thank me tomorrow.}
Tiffany Han, CPCC received her training as a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach from the prestigious Coaches Training Institute. With a degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a background in non-profit fundraising and outreach, Tiffany brings an abundant array of academic, professional and personal experiences to her life and business coaching practice. Tiffany lives with her husband, Tim, and their twin daughters in the Bay Area. Visit her website at tiffanyhan.com