Day 31: Begin at the beginning.
“Begin at the beginning and go on
till you come to the end: then stop.” –Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis
Carroll
Have we really come to the end of 31Ways2GetItStarted™…?
Be still my beating heart. Well, luckily there’s still 333 days left in the
year 2013 for me to encourage, support, cajole, whine, kvetch, beg, glare at all you good people and, if necessary, nag you to make the changes you long for[1].
But again: nothing can nor will ever
happen if you don’t one day just start. One day just stop making excuses (to
yourself) and start creating change. That “change,” at first, may mean reading
on-line articles about starting a business, or listening to related podcasts, or going
to the gym for 15 miserable minutes and then going home to collapse. Pat
yourself on the shoulder, my friend, because you got started!
How many people do you know with
great book ideas, or screenplay plots, or the desire to start a business, or
learn to speak French or whatever…who never do a damn thing
about these interests? Then, they see someone else, who did eventually
get started, on TV, for example, and they say, “Gawd, [fill-in-the-blank] is not even all that
talented. It makes me sick.” No, what should really make them sick is that they
chose to not invest in themselves, because not doing anything is a choice. So,
they chose to hang out, and someone else hustled…such is life.
I always, always, always encourage
my clients to just get started already: we’ll figure it out as it happens. Because it’s true. When I first started blogging, way back in the dark ages of 2008, I
honestly only told maybe 3 people about my blog. I had no idea what I was doing. I was horribly self-conscious. There was no way in hell I
could have put my thoughts on Facebook, or Twitter…meanwhile, just yesterday, I was
blogging about my vagina or something else fun and out-going[2].
In 2008, when I was starting this business, I would read business how-to guides
and wish that someone, ANYONE, would just hold my hand and tell me what to do. Now, I have people
come to me for advice…people who have been in business for decades longer than
me[3].
You have to just get started,
however big or small, because everyone starts somewhere. That’s the rules. Think
of how much in our society we take for granted today, we take ideas and technology and lifestyles for granted, that at one time would
have been considered babbling heresy[4].
Think of your favorite actors or singers or artists who at once upon a time couldn’t
get arrested, and now we call them icons…then again, people call Willow Smith
an “icon,” and seriously, if she’s an “icon”, I have a cat who deserves both the
Nobel Peace Prize and the MacArthur Genius Award for not vomiting on my pillow. #horseshit
Oh, boys and girls: it’s the end of January 2013... but our fun is just beginning! If you want some help eventually
becoming the icon you were meant to be…email me @carlotazee@gmail.com, or visit
my Facebook page, “Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta,” for a free consultation!
[1] Yes, that is a dial-tone you
hear because this blog is off. The. Hook!
[2] Hmm. Perhaps this isn’t the best
example. But you get my point.
[3] Insert here theme music to “The
Lion King.”
[4] Example: The Democratic Party
having a lock on the White House for as far as the eye can see?? HA!
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