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Hey guys - I am new-ish to the forum. I've been doing a lot of self reflection lately that has helped me get my mind right. This will be a long read, but hopefully it helps someone and it feels good to get it out of my head and down somewhere to read.
I am a prime example of a procrastinator, an underachiever and a constant sufferer of paralysis by analysis. I'm not proud of these facts, but in general they are all fair descriptions of myself.
Procrastination:
I will sit and watch TV and movies for hours on end. As an aspiring screenwriter, movies and TV are something I take a lot of interest in, but there is no excuse for wasting hours daily watching the 'idiot box'. [insert your own time wasting activity here]
Underachiever:
I am the guy who knows a little about a lot. I have ventured in to web design, programming, affiliate marketing, trading the equity/futures market and many more. I'm have excelled at a few and have a decent grasp the others; however most are useless as I have never mastered any of them. I have jumped from one to the other and there has been no real focus or mastery. Sound like you?
Paralysis by Analysis:
I have excelled in every slow lane job I've ever had - quickly become a team lead and or manager. I have yet to achieve the success I expect of myself with my own ventures. Ring a bell?
Why do I excel so quickly when working FOR other people, yet fail to get started or stick with my own projects?
In a slowlane job the analysis is taken out of the equation.
It's my job to take the actions given to me by the boss and all I need to do is figure out how to best master and complete the task. It is not my job to worry if the overall vision will be successful. I am simply trading my hours to complete tasks given to me.
If you are in the same situation, you need to realize it's not an intelligence or skill issue - it's "all in your head" as they say. It could be a lack of confidence, being overly sensitive to risk and fear due to your upbringing, or anything else that formed your personality and mindset. It is who you are... but being that it's NOT an intelligence issue, you can learn and you can change.
Looking back over the years, every success I have had in life and business was when I had NO CLUE if what I was doing would work out. I simply took action.
For example, when I was 12 years old my family had just gotten our first computer and hooked up the internet. After a few months of playing some wicked CD-ROM games, I became interested in the websites that were out there about all of my favorite things - pro wrestling, Pokemon, video games, etc.
Not knowing anything about how a website is built, I set out to create my own website. I wanted to provide something to the people who shared the same interests as I did. [see providing value]
I built a a few successful content/community websites which had a large following at the time and earned extra cash through banner advertising. Through this process I learned HTML, Photoshop and years later CSS and some PHP. Along the way I opened my own web development business and developed sites for local businesses and took freelance jobs online. This experience lead me in to a well paying slowlane salary job in the media industry where I learned about radio, tv, advertising, shooting and editing video and many other skills.
While this forum is about fast lane, the reason I am sharing this story is that when I started I had no idea where that venture would send me. I just took action and it ended up leading me to learning various new skills, finding jobs, earning a lot of money and even a lot of fun.
The main point is that we need to get started now. Don't worry about if you're doing everything right or if you will soon be making $xx,xxx next month. If you are here and interested in the fastlane, you have already set yourself in the right direction. Your best course of action is to simply get started and adjust as you go. It's inevitable that mistakes will be made, but you adjust and continue on your path.
I'll leave you with a couple quotes that I'm sure have been said around here, but they are worth repeating.
"Fail faster"
"You only have to be right once."
Put those two together and you have:
Take consistent action and SOONER than LATER you will find success.
I am a prime example of a procrastinator, an underachiever and a constant sufferer of paralysis by analysis. I'm not proud of these facts, but in general they are all fair descriptions of myself.
Procrastination:
I will sit and watch TV and movies for hours on end. As an aspiring screenwriter, movies and TV are something I take a lot of interest in, but there is no excuse for wasting hours daily watching the 'idiot box'. [insert your own time wasting activity here]
Underachiever:
I am the guy who knows a little about a lot. I have ventured in to web design, programming, affiliate marketing, trading the equity/futures market and many more. I'm have excelled at a few and have a decent grasp the others; however most are useless as I have never mastered any of them. I have jumped from one to the other and there has been no real focus or mastery. Sound like you?
Paralysis by Analysis:
I have excelled in every slow lane job I've ever had - quickly become a team lead and or manager. I have yet to achieve the success I expect of myself with my own ventures. Ring a bell?
Why do I excel so quickly when working FOR other people, yet fail to get started or stick with my own projects?
In a slowlane job the analysis is taken out of the equation.
It's my job to take the actions given to me by the boss and all I need to do is figure out how to best master and complete the task. It is not my job to worry if the overall vision will be successful. I am simply trading my hours to complete tasks given to me.
If you are in the same situation, you need to realize it's not an intelligence or skill issue - it's "all in your head" as they say. It could be a lack of confidence, being overly sensitive to risk and fear due to your upbringing, or anything else that formed your personality and mindset. It is who you are... but being that it's NOT an intelligence issue, you can learn and you can change.
Looking back over the years, every success I have had in life and business was when I had NO CLUE if what I was doing would work out. I simply took action.
For example, when I was 12 years old my family had just gotten our first computer and hooked up the internet. After a few months of playing some wicked CD-ROM games, I became interested in the websites that were out there about all of my favorite things - pro wrestling, Pokemon, video games, etc.
Not knowing anything about how a website is built, I set out to create my own website. I wanted to provide something to the people who shared the same interests as I did. [see providing value]
I built a a few successful content/community websites which had a large following at the time and earned extra cash through banner advertising. Through this process I learned HTML, Photoshop and years later CSS and some PHP. Along the way I opened my own web development business and developed sites for local businesses and took freelance jobs online. This experience lead me in to a well paying slowlane salary job in the media industry where I learned about radio, tv, advertising, shooting and editing video and many other skills.
While this forum is about fast lane, the reason I am sharing this story is that when I started I had no idea where that venture would send me. I just took action and it ended up leading me to learning various new skills, finding jobs, earning a lot of money and even a lot of fun.
The main point is that we need to get started now. Don't worry about if you're doing everything right or if you will soon be making $xx,xxx next month. If you are here and interested in the fastlane, you have already set yourself in the right direction. Your best course of action is to simply get started and adjust as you go. It's inevitable that mistakes will be made, but you adjust and continue on your path.
I'll leave you with a couple quotes that I'm sure have been said around here, but they are worth repeating.
"Fail faster"
"You only have to be right once."
Put those two together and you have:
Take consistent action and SOONER than LATER you will find success.
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