Dare to be bold by Matt Cheuvront
Our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Next to Resistance, rational thought is the artist or entrepreneurs worst enemy. Bad things happen when we employ rational thought, because rational thought comes from the ego. Instead, we want to work from the Self, that is, from instinct and intuition, from the unconscious.
A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. Its only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” - Steven Pressfield, Do the Work
The idea of “being realistic” holds all of us back. From starting a business or quitting a job to dating someone who may not be our type or moving to a new place – getting “real” often means putting your dreams on hold.
Today, let’s take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue? Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.
The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?
Interesting that today's writing challenge seems to be a continuation of my reply to the day 6 blog post. It's like this person is talking directly to me for things I'm holding back:
- Starting a business (check)
- Quitting a job (check)
- Dating someone who may not be our type (eek no way! How about just not dating period - check!)
- Moving to a new place (check)
Is this guy in my HEAD???!!!!
Ok so if I have to pick one thing from that list then let's start from the top. Starting a business, a cafe to be exact. I've explained my obstacles in yesterday's post but decided to stop by the SBA website for some insight. I found this little self checklist that should be considered before starting a business:
The SBA advises anyone thinking about starting a business to ask themselves several questions before going forward.
- Am I a self starter?
- How well do I get along with a variety of personalities?
- How good am I at making decisions?
- Do I have the physical and emotional stamina to run a business?
- How well do I plan and organize?
- Are my attitudes and drive strong enough to maintain motivation?
- How will the business affect my family?
Well done SBA... this is being realistic. Although I am a big dreamer - I live realistic. There are definitely some obstacles for me to overcome according to this list that I should address before stepping one foot into that cafe.
Self starter? Yes I am definitely a self starter. I've always been that way. My father being the sharp wit business man that he is used to tell his employees when I was little that I could run the department better than they could. Ha! (I wonder where I get my sarcasm from?) I would not be on my own, raising two girls, working full time, school part time if I did not do it out of my own free will. I know that I'm completely capable of starting something but the key here is necessity. I've done these things because I did not have any other option. I moved out at 19 and have been self sufficient ever since.
Getting along with other personalities - yes! I know I can interact with a multitude of different personalities and I continue to do so. I'm intrigued by the minds of other people and always look to learn something from them.
Making decisions - oh getting tougher here... I can say there have been a lot of decisions I have not made the best choices on. This is how we learn too right? However, in business this is risky. obstacle 1.
Physical and emotional stamina? This is for sure obstacle 2. I have the physical stamina but the emotional stamina can affect that. I am emotional. I think too much. My life is filled with stress already and it takes its toll on me physically and emotionally. This tells me I'm not exactly ready right now to take on a cafe business that would require me to be rock solid 24/7/365. This is something I am sure I am in the learning process for now.
Planning and organizing - I constantly plan now, I can plan the socks off of anything. Organize - eh I could do better but I know I can do it. Sometimes though I'd like to hand the oars over for a bit and say please - can
you row for a while? I think with some help this obstacle would be easily overcome.
Ah yes - big obstacle # 4. My attitude. I think its reflected in several blog posts lately but my attitude kind of is lacking in the positive department for a little while now. I know that if I was telling someone else to go for this kind of business that they can do it. That they can overcome all of these obstacles. That if that drive is there nothing will stop them. I know this is true for myself as I have done it. I've faced worse obstacles and still have managed to get to my feet and keep walking and sometimes even running forward.
The biggest obstacle of all is how this business would affect my family. My little family of us girls. This is where the fear chokes me. I don't want anything to negatively impact the lives of my girls. I feel with the amount of attention and focus it would take to start a business like this would take away from them.
So, as you can see I have definitely thought this through. This dream has always been in my mind but seeing that its just me taking on the world here its a bit scary. My steps to overcome these obstacles would be more self-reflection. I need to sit back for a little while and reevaluate my life for a bit. The timing does not feel right and I think that maybe there is more in store for me in the near future. I patiently wait and pray. I know my life is in good hands. When the time is right it will happen. In the meantime - I am still a work in progress so time to get working on those obstacles.
