It’s not easy to do something special. Hell, it’s hard to know where to even begin.
Having a specific goal seems like a critical first step because in much of life it’s important to know where you’re going in order to get there. So if you want to do something big with your life you need to first know what it is, right?
If you need groceries, you probably shouldn’t leave the house until you know the address of the supermarket. If you’re planning on building a house it’s smart to start with an architectural drawing.
This type of thinking doesn’t help us with really big stuff, though. The brains of Homo sapiens evolved to deal with short-term problems: see apple, grab apple, eat apple. The apelike creatures traipsing around on Earth hundreds of millennia ago were more likely to survive if they dealt with the immediate issues facing them: I must eat today, I must avoid being eaten today, I must get out of this horribly crappy weather today.
But things are different in the twenty-first century. Many of us can afford to think longer term, but we’re still stuck with the primate brains that evolved to deal with a very different world. So what we must do is begin. Even if you cannot see the road, know that it is there – just set your wheels in motion.
Check Out – New Entrepreneur? Don’t Waste Your Time
Let’s suppose you would like to land a job in software development but know very little about it. It’s easy to immediately become paralyzed with options: do I learn Java, Python, C++, Ruby, or something else? Do I focus on data engineering, web development, devops, mobile development, robotics, embedded systems? Do I enroll in a college course, read books, take an online course, find a mentor?
Take a few hours or a day to consider all these options, and if one strikes you as particularly interesting, dive in. But don’t be lured into endless research and questions which will only lead to paralysis by analysis. Pick a language and begin. The path will become clear as you go.
Perhaps you want to learn how to play music but you don’t know where to start. The choices are many: different instruments, different genres, different learning environments, etc. So which to choose?
Just begin. Don’t worry about where, exactly, the path leads, just trust that you have the tools to create the path as you go. Jump in and start learning and doing. You’ll make mistakes and take wrong turns, and that’s ok. Mistakes and missteps are learning opportunities, and as long as you insist that you learn something from every error you make, you’ll grow.
You will improve at whatever it is you’re doing. You will gain expertise, and slowly the path will appear before you.
If you find yourself flummoxed with options and entry points, just pick one and start learning. Your brain is an amazing machine, and with it you can create your own path to something special.