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Things To Remember When Starting Something New

Apr 01, 2021

I was talking with my friend and we are were both discussing starting something new. Truth is we had been talking about it for some time but neither of us had actually been working full bore on it. Sure we both did a few things and took some initial steps, but neither of us were working at it as hard as we felt we it needed.

Then while listening to our mentor talking about starting something new he said, "Most people aren't afraid to start. They are afraid to be seen starting small." Well that made some sense, but as I thought about it, it wasn't what I was feeling at all. Starting small? Is there any other way to start? How do you start big? I understand starting something that will eventually be big, but how to you start big? Every story I have ever heard about big success was about someone starting in their garage, basement, or with $1,000 put on their credit card. So starting small seemed like it was how everything starts.

I continued to think about this quote to determine what was holding me back. I finally came upon the idea. I wasn't afraid of starting small. I was concerned about starting badly. Starting something where it felt like I didn't know what I was doing. Again, I thought, is there another way to start something? Whenever we start something new, aren't we normally bad at it? Sure we can do some research, read some books, talk to experts, but do we really know what we're doing until we do it?

Just like, every martial arts student starts as a white belt. If you have ever taken a martial arts class in your life then I am sure you can relate to that fact that as a white belt, you have no idea what is happening most of time. You just do your best to keep up. You don't know how to tie your belt, where you are supposed to stand, what to say, how to punch, kick, run, or anything. Talk about feeling lost. As white belt, you know you don't know anything, and everyone else knows that you don't know anything.

Of course we are going to start badly. How can we be good at something we have never done before? The thing is that when we start we are white belts, but we want everyone else to think that we are black belts. But this is not the way to start. You will not fool anyone for long. If you are just starting as a white belt, and pretending you are a black belt, you can imagine it is a great way to get yourself and others hurt. If you are a white belt, then own it. Be a white belt. Ask for help. Have a white belt mentality of learning, growing, asking for help, practicing, learning more, absorbing everything you can. Gradually you will get better, and one day you will find yourself at the next level. Then there will be new challenges to overcome. Meet those challenges and learn and grow even more. 

Also, just because we are a black belt in one thing, doesn't mean we are a black belt in something else. Like if we are a black belt in karate we would still start as a white belt in kung fu. We always start as white belts.  Sure we may have some knowledge and experience that will have some carry over and may be able to advance more quickly, but it doesn't change our starting point. We will always start out as a white belt.

The problem is when we have achieved a black belt in one discipline, many of us are uncomfortable with starting over as white belts again. We think we can start at a higher level. It feels like we have been demoted. But we haven't been demoted. We are starting at the only place we can start, at the beginning. After becoming a world class writer, you would still need to learn a lot to become a world class project manager.

So if you have ever held back starting something new because you don't want to feel like you don't know what you are doing, understand that it will almost always feel that like when we start. But we don't have to stay there. So start where you are, learn and grow everyday and your skills will improve.  And so will your results.

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