If you are in the process of building a business or pursuing a creative endeavor it can sometimes be disheartening to look around and see people who are further ahead in their journey than you are in yours.
Maybe you feel you aren’t very good at the technical aspects of online business, such as setting up a website? Maybe you worry about the money side of things? Or perhaps you just despair at your lack of clients, customers or readers?
When we start feeling like this we can throw ourselves into a tizzy and imagine that it’s necessary to tackle everything at once to make this venture of ours work. That leads to overwhelm, procrastination and ultimately getting very little done.
What I am proposing today is to take a different path.
This path is made up of two parts — the first is, for a while at least, to take your eyes off what everyone else is doing and for the moment concentrate solely on your own goals.
You do have goals, right?
They are written down aren’t they?
If not, that’s the very first thing to do. Get out a journal and write down all the dreams you have for your business, the big picture goals, as well as the more practical goals. Set yourself targets for social media followers, mailing list subscribers and the revenue you want to generate in the next 3, 6 and 12 months. Write down all the practical steps you will need to take to get you there. Then map out a timeline for yourself.
Until you know exactly where you want to head, of course you will be thrown off course by the pretty pictures of what everyone else is doing.
The second part of this equation, and perhaps the most important, is to start from where you are.
Not from where you think you should be, but from where you actually are.
For example, maybe your first step needs to be to set up a blog and to start writing. Tackle that first, then add in sharing your posts on social media and then start building a mailing list. This is just one example but hopefully it highlights that all you need to take is one step at a time. You don’t need to be worrying about how to employ your first 3 members of staff if you haven’t even got a home base (your website) established yet.
Don’t get me wrong, I know how easy it is to be seduced into putting the cart before the horse, but by staying focused on what’s important for you right now, you will make WAY more progress than you ever imagined you could. It’s only when we fall into overwhelm that our progress falters. I’m not saying don’t dream big, don’t have huge goals but once you have visualized those goals (and written them down of course — are you seeing a pattern here?) bring it right back to but ‘what do I need to do today?’ ‘what are the practical steps I can take to move me forward?’
And then go do them.