Merely Start (Even if you are not totally ready)
Merely Start (Even if You Are Not Ready)
There is an argument to be made in favor of merely starting. Merely taking action on the thing we intend to do. Merely differs from just, as Seth Godin points out in his book The Practice. If you merely do something, you apply the least amount of cognitive effort to gain momentum and detach your ego from the possible spectrum of outcomes. "What if it fails?" Then, you would have learned at least one valuable lesson.
I did not fully believe I was ready when I started Notion consulting. And I do not believe I am 100% ready now. Imposter syndrome appears to be constantly lurking in the background. Yet, momentum has propelled me forward thanks to consistent qualitative and precise output provided to clients. This has taught me two valuable mental models:
- you will likely never feel fully ready to begin a new endeavor;
- if you pay close attention and take what it is you are starting seriously, you can figure things out along the journey.
I would not go so far as to generalize these two arguments to every field out there. Especially in highly technical fields such as medicine and law, competence is essential. Merely starting to practice in those fields is unwise and not possible. In the domain of business, on the other hand, merely starting appears to be a valid strategy in most fields, due to the practical aspect of businesses.
Humans are resistant to change, broadly speaking. By developing a bias for action, we may set ourselves up to become conscious of our own failure if it happens in the future. And failure is often perceived as undesirable (less so in Silicon Valley, where failure is often accepted as a "passport" for success). There is value in failure if we do not tie our self-identity to what we do. "You are not your next thought", as neuroscientist Sam Harris would point out. Exposure to failure means solidifying our humane armor.
The "market" will decide. If we merely start and we stick with it long enough without falling prey to the sunk cost bias and we produce something the world values, rewards will follow.
RESOURCES
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Purzzv8G66o&feature=share
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CI05LhOnBaT/