It’s the classic excuse.
“I can’t start because I don’t have everything I need.”
I can’t start my own business because I don’t have enough capital, I can’t exercise because it just isn’t the right time to do it, I can’t go back to school because it’s not the right time in my life, etc.
It’s definitely a “safe” answer.
Safe in the sense that it’s easy for a person to use in order to rationalize not taking that first step in their journey and safe in the sense that it allows that person to use that excuse to save face in front of others.
Of course there are some extenuating circumstances in life that warrant not taking a first step toward your goal, but for the most part, let’s face it – it’s just an excuse.
Here’s what must be realized.
You do the best you can with what you’ve got RIGHT NOW. PERIOD.
That’s it.
That’s all you have to do.
You maximize what you have by thinking creatively because when you do so, three things happen.
1. You start (obviously).
And when you start, you take advantage of the law of thermodynamics. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.
2. The subsequent steps you take WILL LEAD YOU TO GET WHAT YOU THOUGHT YOU NEEDED TO START IN THE FIRST PLACE.
If you wanted to open up your restaurant with your signature, custom made, tinkered in the kitchen Italian recipes, but you didn’t start because you had no capital – just start cooking.
Make the food. Invite some friends over. Tell them to invite their friends and co-workers over. See how they react to the food. If they don’t really like it, get some feedback to see how you can make it better. If they love it, then tell them about your dream. Who knows? Maybe they know somebody who’s looking to invest. Maybe they have the capital to invest.
Or maybe they suggest you cook from home and deliver it to nearby families so you don’t have to fork over a boatload of cash to rent out a huge space in the city.
Or maybe they suggest you start a catering company instead.
None of that would’ve happened if you didn’t start. If you didn’t start cooking.
Just starting will send out ripple waves of events that bump and interact with one another to create new possibilities and food for thought on your part, and once that happens, you eventually get to the point where you can get what you need.
You take advantage of those ideas the people told you about. Maybe you create a simple menu, distribute them around where you live locally, offering a free dinner on a certain night for those interested in what you’re cooking.
Have them come in on that night, wow their socks off, and tell them that you deliver so if their family is hungry one night and they aren’t in the mood for pizza or Chinese, and they crave your cooking instead, they can order right over the phone.
You do that for some time, save some cash and maybe branch out, do some catering events for local small businesses.
You do that for some time, save some cash, make some important contacts, network, and you get a great deal on this prime piece of real estate in the city and you launch your restaurant there.
And you invite all your clients from when you first started delivering to local families, to the businesses you catered, and due to all those satisfied customers, word of mouth just explodes and your restaurant becomes a big success.
I just came with all that off the top of my head. It’s one of a million different scenarios that can happen.
If you just start.
3. If you do the best you can with what you’ve got right now – imagine how much MORE you’ll be able to do WHEN YOU ACTUALLY GET WHAT YOU THOUGHT YOU NEEDED IN THE FIRST PLACE!
You’ll have “SUPER” MAXIMIZED (pretty bad grammatical term I know) the resources you thought you needed in the first place when you get them.
Why?
Because you developed the HABIT.
It’s the habit that’s important.
If you got everything you needed to start in the first place, and you didn’t have this habit of maximization, chances are you’ll have crashed and burned. You’ll have squandered all that was given to you in the first place.
With this habit of maximizing what you’ve got right now – the sky’s the limit when you
actually get the things you needed in the first place which you will if you just start.
Think about it and you’ll see it’s true. And you’ll also see that it’s in your best interest NOT to get everything you think you need in the first place.
It’s in your best interest to start small, grow, learn, maximize, and habituate all those important principles so by the time you get the big resources, you’ll know exactly how to make the most of them.
Yes, the idea of starting right now with what meager resources you think you have may not sound all that sexy or glamorous but that’s not the point.
The point is – you CAN start.
Right now.
With what you’ve got.
And I assure you, you have more than enough to start. And what’s more, you can multiply your resources using that thing in between your ears. Never underestimate the power of human creativity. It’s the only thing you can really, truly depend on to “suck out all the potential”. That and the minds of others as well if you put into practice the “Master Mind” principle.
Stop waiting. Don’t wallow in self pity because you don’t have everything you need.
Get excited.
See what you’ve got right now and see what you can come up with to maximize it.
Get excited at the thought of creating ripple waves of events that bump and interact with one another to create new possibilities and food for thought on your part.
Improvise, be creative, get thing done and people will notice and become drawn to you.
They’ll see you’re a person who can maximize resources and ideas effectively so they’ll be that much more willing to invest and listen to your ideas and give you opportunities to put them into practice.
And that’s when you begin to get what you thought you needed in the first place and maximize the hell out of it to increase your growth exponentially – only now you’re glad you never got all that in the first place.
Because you know you wouldn’t be able to do then what you’re doing right now with it.
