How to get started

The number one problem that haunted me for over two years of my life, specially when I was in college, was “getting started” with what I really wanted to do. I am a type A personality, and I like to have a lot on my plate. But for over two years, I couldnt get started on a diet, or an entrepreneurial venture, or the gym among other things.

Even if I did start, I left it half way. After some introspection, I came to realize what the reasons behind not getting started on things I really wanted to do were. I also realized that

• not only is starting something easy, it’s also fun.
• It makes you a better better person
• It makes you more confident, and
• introduces you to a lot of like-minded people.
• It also makes your life more interesting to an outsider

ALL of this, and all we have to do is start. But there are so many things stopping us. These are mostly mental hurdles that we set for ourselves. Not to be cliche’d but to paraphrase what Henry Ford said

Whether you think you can or cannot, you’re right.

Some of these mental hurdles are:

1. Fear of failure: It’s like having a horse, but even before getting on it, we believe that because we are going to fall once or twice, we’ll never learn how to do ride it. You’re better off knowing that failure is an integral part of success. The opposite of success is not failure, it’s giving up.
2. Feeling overwhelmed: It is very easy for someone just starting out to feel overwhelmed. We are constantly exposed to so many new people, new concepts, new ideas, that the mind is just not used to so much newness. If we balance our focus on the details as well as the big picture, We won’t be as overwhelmed. By just starting, we’ve come a long way, and it is important to celebrate that success, yet not forget that there is still a long way to go.
3. Losing interest: sometimes we plan to start out something, and we almost do it. until it’s crunch time. then hurdle #2 takes over and we become overwhelmed. So we just decide that it’s not for us. That is just our mind justifying why we can’t do something. We can.
4. Not knowing how to go about it: There is the internet today, and almost everything is easy to find. Like if you’re looking for a diet plan, it’s quiet easy to find; or if you’re looking for a workout plan, that’s easy to find too. But there might be things we know very little about that keep us from doing it, and on the flipside, there might be too many things that we “want” to do, that keep us from doing any of them. For example, if I want to be a writer, musician, actor, and a dancer, I need to balance out my time amongst all of them, or pick one at a time. We can’t all do everything, we need to balance or pick just one activity to do.
5. lack of patience: We all need to be patient, things don’t happen instantly. You aren’t born instantly, and you do not grow up instantly. Experience takes time, and greatness takes time. That’s why we value both so much. In our world of instant gratification we have come to believe that everything happens instantly. 
6. Lack of realistic goals: This should be #1 in any hurdle list, but Im putting this last because it must stay with you. We have to assess our strengths and our weaknesses before setting out goals. This is not to say that you CANNOT do something, but it just means that you MAY NOT be able to do something at this point in life.

At the end, each of us is one person, and we have just one life as ourselves, doing one activity at a time and enjoying it and doing things slowly is very important. Knowing that there is a lot to do, but then again, there is also tomorrow is of paramount importance. Not everything happens in an instance. great things, do indeed, take time.

If somebody somewhere can do something you want to do, why can’t you?

If you’ve been planning to start out something, but hesitating due to such hurdles, I hope this helps you in starting out and keeping at it, strongly!
If you have face other hurdles, and would like to share, please comment :)