“There comes a moment when you have to stop revving up the car and shove it into gear.” – David Mahoney
I had a really engaging day recently with the management team of a small but rapidly-growing business. This business has added a number of people, and the chaos of all the newness is starting to wear off. They’re ready to get down to business. Except they can’t really decide what that means.
Don’t misinterpret that statement – these are all exceptionally talented people, they all have spent time trying to think strategically about what’s their “next step”, they’re creative, etc. The problem is there is an awful lot of talk and then nobody committing to any action. They’re great at envisioning scenarios and possibilities – and then can’t really decide what to do about them.
How many of us are like that? Whether it’s in our personal lives or in our businesses, we quite often have lots of ideas about ways we could improve, or things we could do that would make us happy. We think and talk and think and talk – but don’t ever really act on anything.
Often people feel overwhelmed and aren’t sure how to prioritize (which is a topic for another day). But sometimes it’s just that we’re afraid to act until we’re certain everything is aligned perfectly. News flash: nothing is ever aligned perfectly. If we never do anything until the perfect time comes along, we’ll never do anything.
So stop waiting for the perfect time. Decide what you want to do and start. You’ll run into barriers, you’ll have to adjust, you’ll have to try new things. But as long as you keep moving forward, you’re not failing. The only failure is standing still.
