Brian Funk

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The Best Thing You Can Do To Succeed In Your Work...

Sorry for the click-bait title. The answer is... Get Started!

It Was Over Before it Even Began

Here’s where most people fail… before they ever start, because most people never even get started.  Think about the physical law of inertia.  It states that objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest.  Most people who have dreams or desires to do something never achieve them because they never get started. 

It’s easy to not get started.  Excuses come by the truckload.  “I don’t have the right gear,” “I need to find a good teacher first,” “Once I do (insert anything) then I can begin doing it.”  "I just need some time." You are at rest before you start and you don’t have to do anything to stay there. It’s easy and these reasons sound pretty logical.

Sometimes statements become cliché because they are true.

Action Must Be Taken At Once

The truth is that action is required.  The first thing you can do is take action.  Whatever your goal is, get started working on it.  Even the smallest step is still a step. A lot of times the excitement that first step brings will lead to a second step.

On the road of life, the traffic lights will never all be green.  When you come to a red light, find another route.  To this, a chronically-at-rest-person will cite an excuse like, “What if I take action before the time is right and I wind up setting myself back?”  Making sure everything is perfect is a classic reason to not get started.  The scary part is that reason feels responsible. As if by waiting for things to be just right before we begin, we are not being hasty and are thinking things through.  But don’t forget our friend inertia.  If we become a body in motion, even if we go way off course, it’s easier to turn around and get back to square one and then keep going, because we are already moving.  If things are really that messed up after taking action, you can probably fix whatever is wrong and move forward again faster than the person who never got started.  Your errors were likely inevitable and would have happened even if you waited until things seemed perfect.  Most likely the missteps will lead you to some new knowledge that will help you progress.

I know this is a little crazy and very 2015, but he's kind of right:

Now is the Best Time 

By getting started, you are already ahead of the game.  After a short amount of time you build momentum.  Momentum is a powerful force.  Do whatever you can to get it on your side. Remember when you had to write essays in school? Almost always, the hardest part was getting started.  But once you got going things often moved pretty quickly. That’s momentum at work. So take action now. Get started and correct course along the way. 

What can you do today, right now? Even if it is the tiniest step, take it.