I was having a conversation about the success and failures of businesses over dinner with a friend visiting from NY. I pointed out that I noticed successful people become successful by doing what they love. I have been in positions where I would work 90 hours a week to solve a problem that was supposedly unsolvable. I loved the challenge so the hours did not matter to me. It prevented others to pursue such a venture, given the amount of effort and investment with something that may fail. Everyone wanted the problem solved, but no one wanted to do the work, especially when we were all told it’s impossible, so don’t bother. The thought of ultimate failure never occurred to me though. If something didn’t work, I would try something else. I did not fail because I loved what I trying to solve and I refused to give up until I succeeded.
I told her that I am happier at doing what I love than stay stagnant and be complacent with what I have right now. Accepting limitations and agreeing to stay within the boundaries is not fun at all. Her eyes lit up and she opened up to me about her dream – a dream she had be running through her head, but hesitated to take that first step even though she knew it would make her happy. I asked her a series of questions to figure out what was really holding her back.
People naturally find reasons to justify why they would not try something new. I think the reason is because of fear. It’s not necessarily just the fear of failure, but also the fear of success. What if the idea because successful? I will have new problems to solve. How will I handle it? The problem becomes a spiral effect of many what if’s, and your mind makes you think it’s not worth the trouble. And so, you dismiss these ideas, burying them deep into your subconscious.
So how did my friend get her break through? It didn’t happen immediately after dinner – we talked for hours, walked a bit, enjoyed some coffee, and drifted into other topics. We ended up going back to my apartment to continue our Netflix binge, and we drifted back to talking about her dream. I looked at her and said with conviction, “I can help you setup a website for your business – right now. I can show you – it’s easy.” She agreed.
We had the name of her business already and surprisingly no one registered the domain name. This is usually the hard part. I asked her to give me her tagline and it rolled off her tongue effortlessly. I typed it in – done. I proceeded to set up a website using a theme appropriate to her business. It matched her vision. I then asked her to set up accounts for her social media presence. We hit a stag with an email – it was already taken. It’s not a problem – make it unique. She quickly added NYC – done. The last step was the credit card. This post would have been called “Kick-Start Your Dream in Less Than 10 Minutes” if it weren’t for that 5 minutes of hesitation. All the what if’s came roaring in like a storm. I could see the hesitation in her eyes.
“I can change anything I want later, right?” she asked.
“Absolutely. Just do it,” I replied, and it was done.
She said, “I guess it’s decided – I will be running this business in New York!” My friend was happy, excited, and mostly, relieved. Why? All the doubts she had were answered in a short amount of time, and it all came from her. I only asked questions to get her motivated to take action.
I received this text this morning from her: “Thank you for helping me get my dream started yesterday! That was so much fun!”
We often aim for perfection, though we need to start somewhere. Take action to begin the journey towards your dream. You will succeed.
CHOhesive 