The Secret of Getting Ahead is Getting Started.

During a National Recession I flew from Silicon Valley to Sydney, Australia – my aim was first the joy and experience of the travel, but my ultimate aim was a new start and a fresh beginning.

I wanted to create the ultimate Job / Life / Career tool.  A ‘Dashboard For Your Life’  None of the technology existed yet.  I had a few ideas about what I wanted but everyone I spoke too looked at me as if I was covered in cow dung and speaking wildly in Latin.

I knew how to Sell.   So cold calling I went.  I set up my first meeting with IBM, then got referrals and met with anyone who would meet with me.

I told them my big ideas.  

Finally someone listened.   

He was an infrastructure guy, old skool, gave us an office and all the servers and bandwidth we needed.

And so I began even though I had no idea what I was going to do. 

My first Startup was quite possibly the best experience I could get in how NOT to do things.  I was instructed to create a business plan that would be so compelling that I would wow investors.

My First investor had me sit down and over a year refine ideas over and over.  I went to a ton of meetings. We had professionals do our financials. We had Lawyers do the Lawyering.  Bankers do the Banking, we had everything set up that could be set up.  

What Went Wrong

But we had no technology,  We had No product.  I wasn’t sleeping.  

I needed Money to Hire the Developers, and I needed the Business Plan and Financials PERFECT so that I could get the money from Investors.  Or so I thought.  It continued on and on, and was quite possibly the two longest years of my life. 

I was reading 7 books a month.  I could recite everything about the big ideas, the concepts, the answers I was looking for WAS THERE.

Finally a Professor and Successful Entrepreneur an American who was working with the Business School of The University of New South Wales met with me.

And he said something that changed my life.

Kevin, maybe its time to STOP reading and planning and START doing.

Just Do it!    – Is more than a catchphrase and slogan.  The concept of Kinetic Action is as old as time itself.  Action has its own reward, we need to start before we are ready, because if you wait or hesitate – you will keep refining and finding excuses not to start.

Its a Hampster wheel of tragedy.  You keep working on plans refining and then… you find more that you need to fix, look at or research.  

I personally am a Huge fan of Extreme and Agile process versus waterfall, keep reading and I will get into that in future articles.  Right now I want to focus on ONE BIG IDEA, and that is:

Begin before you are ready.  

Pick up a copy of WAR OF ART by Steve Pressfield,  https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/

The Book in Three Sentences

1. Resistance is what keeps us from sitting down and doing our best work
2. Most of us have two lives: The life we live before we turn pro and the life after
3. Resistance hates it when we turn pro

The Five Big Ideas

1. “Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”
2. “If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get.”
3. “The awakening artist must be ruthless, not only with herself but with others.”
4. “The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.”
5. The power to take charge is in your hands; all you had to do is believe it.

The War of Art Summary

• “Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

What exactly are the qualities that define us as professionals?

1. We show up every day.
2. We show up no matter what.
3. We stay on the job.
4. We are committed over the long haul.
5. The stakes for us are high and real.
6. We accept remuneration for our labor.
7. We do not overidentify with our jobs.
8. We master the technique of our jobs.
9. We have a sense of humor about our jobs.
10. We receive praise or blame in the real world.

Performance Tailwinds is a Business Consultancy, our mission is to teach, work with and improve operational efficiencies, and help entrepreneurs and business owners reduce the risks of starting or expanding their business, while INCREASING their profit.

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