I started experimenting with blogging and podcasting around 2006, but with seven subscribers my motivation was low. The mediums were in their infancy, but I wasn’t sure of their value. It would have been great had I started and stayed consistent at that time–but I didn’t. I never really sincerely started, I felt I should make a commitment to it, I just didn’t. That is changing today. This is my “first” post on calibrate360!
We all have something we want to start, but first episodes, first posts, first steps, first conversations, and first encounters are both exciting and scary. Right now you’re probably thinking of something you need to start, something you’ve wanted to start for a long time. The first step in any journey is always the hardest.
I have a friend who is a runner. He often says to me, “The first mile is liar, don’t listen to it.” Of course, he is telling me that we always want to quit in the first mile of a long run, but if we ignore that desire and press past the initial pain, the likelihood of our enduring to the end exponentially increases.
How do we encourage ourselves to take the first step, run the first mile, pull the trigger, and just start? I’ve found several things that have helped me start. Here are a few of those starter thoughts to encourage you to go ahead and start.
Following are 5 encouragements to start your journey:
- Embrace imperfection.
- Enjoy the beauty of a work in progress.
- Listen to the right voices.
- Be willing to redefine success.
- Press forward with courage.
Embrace Imperfection
I’m a perfectionist. Sometimes that’s good, but too often perfectionism is a paralyzer. As I’ve worked on Calibrate360 I’ve pulled back a number of times because I had to figure something else out to get it to the level I desired.
Starting is starting. You cannot start at episode 300, you can’t start at 30 years of marriage, and you can’t start something brand new with 10 years of specific experience. It is going to develop over time and when you get your 10,000 hours of practice in you will be an expert, until then enjoy the journey. Just start!
Enjoy the Beauty of a Work in Progress
Calibrate360 is not going to be perfect today, it probably will never be perfect (I’m a recovering perfectionist). The beauty of this, I want this to be a journey that keeps getting better. I cannot know all of the wonderful places I am going to explore through Calibrate360. I cannot yet know all of the wonderful people I am going to meet. I cannot yet know all of the exciting ways my life is going to change because of pushing myself and doing something I really feel I am supposed to do.
One step leads to the next, one door opens to a new room where we find another door, life unfolds layer by layer and we discover things we could not have anticipated. The unanticipated discoveries are where we find the gold!
Starting is life changing. I want my journey to inform itself, I want the progressive discoveries to change my life and influence the people I love.
Start. Your dream will become something good you could not have anticipated.
Listen to the Right Voices
Starting Calibrate360 is like the first day in a new school. You are certain everyone is looking at you and scrutinizing you. Remember those awkward first encounters when you thought everyone would be looking at you? Actually, people usually have enough distractions in their own lives that they barely notice what we are doing.
There are always trolls and detractors. Yep, there are always people who want to tell you how difficult and impossible your dream is. Thank you, I am aware there are 65 million bloggers. Thank you, I am aware it is incredibly difficult to be heard in this crowded and noisy world. Thank you, I know that people better than me have failed.
You see, it isn’t really the detractors that keep me from starting, it is the voice in my head that I attribute to imaginary detractors that cause me problems. I need to listen to the voice that tells me to do something, to step out, to live my life and let the wind carry me on a wonderful progression. That’s the voice to which I choose to listen and I hope you will do the same!
Be Willing to Redefine Success
If you don’t hit your target full on, and if you slowly come to necessarily embrace that some dreams don’t work out the way you thought they might, look around, re-evaluate, make course adjustments and redefine success. Often, when we think we have failed, we really haven’t, we have simply learned enough to realize the target we were aiming for was not the right one in the first place, and we redefine success.
I’m not being trite, but what we think of as failure is often a good and necessary course adjustment. I am going to aim at the target I see and then be delighted when I end up hitting a far better and more exciting target that I could not see at first.
Press Forward with Courage
Fear is a paralyzer and must be crushed, but being uneasy, unsettled, and just a little anxious that I may fail, or I may not be able to sustain, or I might not be able to…. Hey, that’s normal! In the Psalms the bible says, “when I am afraid I will trust in God.” When I am afraid (and I will be sometimes) I will trust, have faith, and move forward.
With Calibrate360 I am not sure I can sustain the pace. I am not sure that week after week, month after month, year after year I can be consistent in providing transformational content. This morning I woke up with a looming self imposed deadline to post my first post on June 1. I went to bed the night before with no thought. I woke up with a post in my mind and on my heart. Not a just-come-up-with-something post, but something really in my heart. I have to believe that will keep happening. I’ve been preparing for this for over 40 years, I am going to have to trust what is in me.
We are always afraid we will not be able to finish. Life is exciting because we start things we aren’t sure we can do. And then we do it. That’s what life is about.
I started.
This is my first Calibrate360 post.
The ABOUT page isn’t finished, the email sign-up isn’t perfected. I’m not 100% satisfied with the site layout and tag line, etc., but I started and I will finish.
What is it you want to start? What is it that’s stirred inside you for a long time that you haven’t started yet? I’d love to hear about it the comments section. This community (that doesn’t exist yet) would love to encourage you.
Calibrate360 is about aligning our lives for multiplication, so, what can you do today to encourage the important people in your life to pull the trigger on something they need to start?
Post #2: what is calibrate360… Coming on Thursday!
