“I know I need to be doing that. I will start soon.”
This means that nothing is going to happen. Let’s face it. When we say we should be doing something or make vague plans to start something, it always means that nothing at all will happen.
We all want to start saving money, pay off debt, and make more money. Who doesn’t want to do this? Everyone does. We just don’t know how to launch.
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
This isn’t just another article about starting a business or following your passions. It’s about starting things. It’s about committing to your goals. It’s about the first step.
I just want you to stop being so afraid. I started this site five years ago. I was clueless. Today I’m slightly less clueless.
I can’t believe that I’ve actually been writing consistently on here for five years now. There are 824 published posts. There would be more, but some articles were so lame I just had to delete them. I have a book on Amazon, Start Freelancing Now, and I’ve met some really amazing people through this blog.
Back to the original topic, failure to launch.
Why are we so afraid of doing something?
I feel that we’re all just afraid of failure. And I totally get that! Who wants to fail and be humiliated? It’s easy to view failure as final and fatal. It’s not.
The first thing we need is to conquer fear. There’s no time to be living in fear. You need to check out my piece on finally conquering fear in general. It’s time to slap fear across the face.
Then we have to figure out what we’re hiding from. Seth Godin mentions in The Icarus Deception that most of us use one of the following reasons to hide:
- Busy is the same as brave.
- A mentor is going to change your life.
- Waiting to get picked is the next step.
- There is a secret, and you will soon learn it.
Which one are you guilty of? I personally am always waiting to get picked. I don’t know why, but I get into the habit of thinking that I will get picked and my life will dramatically improve. I’m slowly realizing that your turn never comes. You have to create it. You have to be aggressive and relentless.
You’ll never get out of debt or start saving more money, if you don’t overcome these barriers. There are no secrets. There’s no sense in waiting. You can’t wait around for a mentor. You certainly can’t keep on pretending to be busy with busywork.
How serious is failure to launch?
VERY.
Well, it depends on how badly you want results. If you want to keep on making excuses, that’s fine also. You likely shouldn’t be here.
Failure to launch is scary. If you ever pick up one piece of advice from me, it’s that you need to get into the habit of making things happen. There’s never any point to waiting.
What can you do right now?
It’s time for a small win. It’s time to build some momentum.
I want you to pick ONE THING and get started.
This can be any of the following:
- Paying off debt.
Starting a business.
Saving more money.
Going out without going broke.
Just getting started. Launching or do something.
To be financially free by 30, you have to start with one area today. You can’t tackle everything at once, but you can sure as hell work on one thing.
If you’re really young, you can work on graduating debt-free. If you’re in your 20s and pissed off with debt, you should check out my ultimate guide on crushing debt.
Is perfection the goal here?
I have to admit that I’m not perfect here either. I have no problem with entering a half-marathon with no training or starting a new blog, but I do suck at real life commitments.
I’ve been pretty brutal at avoiding commitments (life, work, dating, and so on). I won’t be a hypocrite. I’m not saying you have to be perfect. You don’t have to move out, start a charity, grow a business, and get married.
You just have to launch in one are of your life.
We already looked at how to save a ton of money in your 20s. You can start there if you want to gather some ideas together for now.
Let’s finish off with a quote that I saw on The 4-Hour Workweek blog recently that really resonated with me…
“The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.” — Neil Gaiman
Will you finally start?