Back to the Beginning
About a year after I got out of college, I had an idea for a website. And, since I didn't have any money, I decided to build it myself. It wasn't much of an idea...just an online liquor directory that would let people post reviews of their favorite liquors. My hope was to use it to get promotional booze samples from liquor companies.
The thing was, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know how to build a website. I didn't know the first thing about HTML or CSS or anything about databases. But I decided to start, and see the project through, even though I was pretty sure that in the end, the whole thing wouldn't amount to very much.
I learned a lot from this, not just about building websites, but about the value of starting. Since then, I've gone to lots of my friends and pitched tons of crazy ideas for things we could start. And the truth is that most people don't want to start. They will find any excuse not to start. They'll fault the idea. They'll talk endlessly without ever taking the steps to get something done. They'll come up with an endless list of reasons to hide, and why they won't go out on a limb.
This isn't a character flaw, but it's the way most people are. Once you start doing things, once you've gone down that road, it kind of becomes addictive, and you start doing lots of projects all at the same time, until you're overextended and doing a dozen things at once. It's a scary prospect. I can't blame anyone for shying away from it.
But to anyone who aspires to accomplish, that is the big secret. There's any number of things that draw out the basic point, but the best way to get things done is to follow the same instruction manual every day for the rest of your life:
Start.
The thing was, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know how to build a website. I didn't know the first thing about HTML or CSS or anything about databases. But I decided to start, and see the project through, even though I was pretty sure that in the end, the whole thing wouldn't amount to very much.
I learned a lot from this, not just about building websites, but about the value of starting. Since then, I've gone to lots of my friends and pitched tons of crazy ideas for things we could start. And the truth is that most people don't want to start. They will find any excuse not to start. They'll fault the idea. They'll talk endlessly without ever taking the steps to get something done. They'll come up with an endless list of reasons to hide, and why they won't go out on a limb.
This isn't a character flaw, but it's the way most people are. Once you start doing things, once you've gone down that road, it kind of becomes addictive, and you start doing lots of projects all at the same time, until you're overextended and doing a dozen things at once. It's a scary prospect. I can't blame anyone for shying away from it.
But to anyone who aspires to accomplish, that is the big secret. There's any number of things that draw out the basic point, but the best way to get things done is to follow the same instruction manual every day for the rest of your life:
Start.