You’re lying in bed, trying to drift off to sleep, but you can’t shake the thoughts. They’re tormenting you, not letting you sleep and heckling you to come chase them. It’s the business idea that won’t go away. It’s the vision of what your life could be, if you could just act. It’s the dreams you have for your life coming to fruition. They keep you awake at night because they want to be free, alive in the world like they were made to be, but you’ve been keeping them locked up, alone in your head for no one to benefit from. And these goals, ideas, and dreams have had enough. If you won’t let them live, they won’t let you sleep.
You are stuck.
Getting stuck with our ideas and aspirations still in our head is commonplace in the entrepreneur world. Oftentimes, simply getting started is the hardest part. It’s where we receive the most internal resistance to pursuing our dreams, and where we must fight the hardest to move past it. Have you ever taken a cold shower or jumped in cold water before? The hardest part is always just getting in the water, but once you’ve jumped in you’re good to go. This is what being stuck is like. All we have to do is jump. Here’s how:
In the beginning of any pursuit, whether it’s starting a company, achieving a goal, or writing a book, action is your best friend. It is action alone that takes you from idea to reality. Once you take the first few steps toward action, momentum begins to build and the resistance begins to dwindle, making it easier for you to continue pursuing your goal. But it starts with action. Specifically, it starts with one big thing, achieved every single day. You don’t have to go from nobody to successful entrepreneur overnight. If you try, you will fail. Instead, each day should be filled with single big steps toward your goal. I call these your one big thing. It’s the single thing you can do each day to get you one step closer to your dream. Here’s an example:
Let’s say it’s your goal to start a podcast interviewing successful teenage entrepreneurs to see how they did it. This can seem like a daunting goal, the kind that keeps you tossing and turning at night, if you don’t break this goal down into smaller steps. Using the one big thing method you don’t have to do it all at once. Instead, your first week might look something like this:
Monday – Sign up for free online workshop at Podcaster’s Paradise to learn the basics.
Tuesday – Make a list of 30 or more successful teenage entrepreneurs that I want to interview. Google searches should be all I need.
Wednesday – Write out a format that I think would work well for my show. Include info on length, types of questions, intro style, and any unique branding that I’d like to create such as a speed answer round or an ask the interviewer round.
Thursday – Write down 20 name options for the podcast. If I’m comfortable sharing, get friends and family’s opinions on them. Or just write down 20 and pick my favorite.
Friday – Research domain names to buy at GoDaddy.com, based on the name I chose on Thursday. If I find the domain I want, I can buy it for just $9.99 and I’m in business.
Saturday – Research WordPress templates for my new website and pick the one I want to use to build my website.
Sunday – Reflect on the week – what went well, where was there room for improvement, and what am I looking forward to this week.
Compare this week, a measly seven days, to the person that just sat there letting their dreams sit idly in their head. One person reflects back at the end of the week wondering why they still haven’t taken any action on pursuing their goals, and one person reflects back amazed that in just one short week they’re well on their way to turning their dream into a reality. It wasn’t accomplished by trying to do everything at once. It was accomplished by focusing on one big thing that can be done each and every day to take you closer to your vision. Entrepreneurs seem like supermen and superwomen oftentimes at surface level. But if you peel back their story, they are simply people that put their head down each and every day and worked. They didn’t let their ideas sit idly in their head. Instead, they took action. That action led to momentum. That momentum led to achievement. But it starts with a single action. What can you do today to take you one step closer to your dreams?
