Are You Fed Up Yet?
entrepreneurship frustration personal freedom preparation self development self-help
Life got in the way. Nothing bad really, just little things here and there. I would see an opportunity that is easier and tell myself, "I'll just get this set up and have it, just in case." Sometimes people's expectations stopped me from fully committing to making real changes. They weren't trying to stop me, but maybe they became afraid I'd leave them behind. I guess I'm actually a little bit afraid that I might.
But I'm fed up with myself.
I've been offered several 'real jobs' with 30k-40k salaries, which I've turned down because I don't want to give up my freedom. But the cost of that is that I have to figure out how to make my own niche, my own business, my own livelihood. There are always plans in the works, but really I'd like to finish one, even if it's not the best one in the long run, to have something under my belt.
Am I going to be dawdling around until my parents get fed up and kick me out and I'm forced to get a real job and then I get tied up forever and lose all opportunities for freedom? Or is this all part of the process of getting the ball rolling?
It is difficult to tell the difference between patience and procrastination sometimes.
I think the determining factor is when you start to get fed up with the current state of affairs and decide to make something drastic happen. If you still don't do anything after that point, it's procrastination, but before that, maybe you're just gathering your resources and ideas.
- Patience is having a definite start date and time; procrastination is waiting for the "right time."
- Patience is peaceful and stress-free; procrastination is uncertain and frustrated.
- Patience is sure of itself; procrastination thinks it is missing something important.
- Patience knows when to act; procrastination is afraid to commit.
Resource-gathering can become an end in its own right however.
I think I've done enough reading and preparing to understand the basics of what needs to get done. Any additional learning needs to take place in the field. So until I start to make something happen, I'm eliminating distractions: how-to guides, business empowerment books, blogs on personal development, and worksheets, workbooks, and workshops. Until something happens, it'll just be real, good, old-fashioned WORK!
I once joined a blogging bootcamp (for the small fee of $20/month). I committed to completing the assignments, but I quickly fell behind. I told myself that I had to finish the bootcamp lessons before I was ready to take my blog to the next level, and so I kept putting off the real reason I'd started the class in the first place. Eventually, I realized that the bootcamp had instead become an impediment to the very thing I had hoped it would help me accomplish. I cancelled my membership, bought my new domain, set up the blog as you see it now, and got the ball rolling without the boot in the butt.
So, definitely utilize resources, but make sure that they actually are helping you accomplish what you want, rather than taking its place or holding you back.
- Make your mistakes first, then go read ways to solve the problem. We can spend so much time preparing for every contingency, and never encounter the problems at all. Better to get as far as we can, troubleshooting as we go and only as much as we need.
- Be okay with not finishing books. Just read what you need and move on.
- Take your teachers seriously. Hold yourself accountable to a real human being, not an online workshop or e-course.
- Be selective about who you listen to. Everyone has differing ideas on how to accomplish the same things. One person's system in its entirety works just as well as another's, but if you're listening to too many conflicting suggestions, you just end up wavering and never get anywhere at all.
- Set a time limit. Maybe you only allow yourself 10 minutes to read your blogs, or 1 month for preliminary research, but hold yourself back from endless preparation. You're probably good to go already, but some self-encouragement is useful.
Sometimes we put off doing things by preparing to do them. It is time to declare the preparation stages over.
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