Rich Twin Poor Twin

How do I start?

This is a common question that many seek the answer to. There are countless books on this topic and I will just give you my answer on tackling this question when it comes to major things.

I remember when I first started wanting more in life, wanting a change, wanting to start something big and thinking about all the things I really wanted. Yep and then waking up every morning and doing NOTHING to change. I listened to some tapes and said to myself: “Yea that makes a lot of sense” and feeling really motivated to do something. But for months I just kept repeating the same things and saw no progress. Finally one day – one dark day in which I can never fully describe and share with you – I sat down and just wrote down everything I wanted to do in a small notebook. And I turned the page over and listed everything – I mean everything that I thought was holding me back from achieving those things I wanted. And then I went line by line and crossed out each one I thought I could master or take care of. But there was this one line, one word that just made me feel weaker and quite hopeless – “How?” This one word held me back the most. And when I thought about it more, I knew it held me back the most. My professional training was in engineering so this might have something to do with it.

For months I sought answers to prepare myself and to just answer the “how to’s” that were holding me back. Months had passed and I was not making the progress I wanted. After reading and listening to countless “experts” the common theme in them was just to face your fears and do it even though you don’t have the how’s, even though you don’t fully understand what you are doing, even though you have a chance to fail, even though it means putting yourself on the line, even though you don’t feel comfortable doing it at first. What put me over the edge was seeing my future if I continued on my path and knowing that I was not heading in the direction I wanted to go. I kept saying to myself: “Ok I have to take care of this shit once and for all, I really don’t know how to do it but I will.”

I really don’t remember much after I finally committed myself to achieving the goals I set down and actually taking action to achieving them. Heck I don’t think I opened that notebook for months after I started. But the other day I opened that same notebook I wrote in a year ago and have found that most of those goals were accomplished somehow by me. I was quite amazed and thought back on how I was back then and said to myself “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” and borrowing a line from Michael Gerber “Why didn’t I open those curtains sooner?” “What did I have to lose?” It wasn’t easy I can tell you that much, but it wasn’t hard neither. The old adage of start small and take tiny steps does work.

SO, my advice is to just start. Start even though you don’t have the “how to’s” or have fear in the unknown or fear of change. Start right now by just writing what you want done in a notebook. You too will be amazed by what you accomplish. I have written more things I want to have and accomplish in my magic little notebook; why don’t you do the same? What will you have to lose? 5 minutes of your precious time?