I know I did, and because I managed it, I know you can too. It’s simply a case of breaking down processes into manageable bite-sized chunks that you can work on incrementally over time, to stop you from being overwhelmed by the bigger picture.
You need to work on rewiring your mindset. Don’t think ‘Oh wow, I’ve got to start my own business’, or ‘How on Earth am I going to get 100 customers?’. Instead, think ‘How can I come up with and develop an idea?’, and then ‘How can I validate and refine my idea?’.
How? Well, we’ll get to that, bit by bit.
It lays on its back, looking at the mysteries of its immediate environment, babbling out sounds like ‘goo goo ga ga’. The baby looks to its parents as if they are gods or giants. When the parents look back down at this tiny, precious creature, they struggle to imagine how the baby could learn to walk, to skip, to run, and in the case of some astronauts, fly all the way to the moon.
If you think of the big picture, you’re not going to get there. A baby learns to do everything by having an incremental approach to life. They try, one step at a time, and they fall, but they get up, change their stance and approach, and they try again. Babies are the masters of trial and error, but they don’t concern themselves with becoming an adult, they’re too focused on the task of observing others and wondering ‘How can I do that?’
The baby starts to rock side to side, and it realises ‘Oh, my back isn’t quite flat, I can move! I can rock!’ and so it pushes left, and pushing right, and then it thinks ‘What happens if I roll over onto my front?’, but it’s not easy, it has to rock harder and harder, and realises that it takes an extra push of energy to get there. Suddenly, the world is upside down (or the right way up).
The baby cranes its neck, bends its back, and looks around. It realises its arms could prove useful, so it pushes itself up to get some support. Now the baby looks down and thinks ‘I have a flat belly! Or is it flat? Let’s try rocking again, it worked last time’. As it goes to rock, it realises it has knees, and legs, and joints. The baby pushes back and suddenly it’s on all fours, and it wants to go higher, but it doesn’t have the strength, so it looks for support. The baby grabs the sofa and pulls itself up, and thinks ‘Wow! I have legs! Now I’m like the big people, like mummy and daddy’.
Then the baby takes one step forward and falls over. ‘Never mind, we’ll try again tomorrow, and the next day’. Once they get going, they can’t be stopped. Did you notice how even the process of learning to walk can be broken down into minute steps and made to look quite simple? At each step, there is an attempt, a failure, and some learning.
We are going to learn to walk but in a business sense. We learn as we go, we break out comfort zone continually, and we accept that each uncomfortable step is an opportunity to improve our condition and ability. When we feel comfortable, it’s time to move on. In a few months time, you’re going to look back and think ‘Wow, I’ve come such as long way’. However, the same perspective doesn’t work in reverse. If during month one, you look forward to where you want to be in six months time, without breaking that down into manageable chunks, you’re going to be overwhelmed and so you’ll never get started.
Our programme is going to break down massive tasks into smaller steps so that you can incrementally make your way from comfort zone to outside of comfort zone, whilst still in your job. You can prove yourself at each level before you’re ready to take the next leap.
In six months time, when you do take that look back, depending on your competence, you might be launching your business, you might already be making a profit, you may have left your job. Whatever stage you’re at, you will have the full conviction that you are going to maximise your impact on Earth with your sustainability product or service.
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