The Only Time You Can Start Is Now
One of the things I’m constantly telling folks is to stop wasting right-nows, waiting for someday.
The other thing is that there’s no best time to make a go at doing your own thing, only right now.
What can you do to get ready to fly?
Listening To the Stories of What Others Have Done, Rather Than Writing Your Own
Do you often wonder if you’ve come too late to the game? That things have passed you by?
They haven’t passed you by. You’re just on the cusp of the next big thing.
Looking back and wondering what it would have been like to have jumped on board early, is a waste of time. You can’t change the past. It’s a cliche because it’s true.
But if you take the time to look around, and be open to opportunities as they appear, you begin to see where you can be at the beginning of things. New things, better things.
It’s fun to listen to the stories of the “been-theres” about the revolution you’re just now becoming aware of. What’s even better is watching for the next one. The one where you can be there from the beginning.
Doing what everyone else is doing isn’t the way to ensure your place in the next wave. Watching for what everyone should be doing next, is.
This is encouraging for me – I feel like I’ve jumped on the bandwagon that is blogging, only to get lost in the crowd. I’m hopeful that blogging will just be a way to better see new opportunities, like you’re talking about. Great post.
Fantastic! It was just the exactly message I was needing to hear right now! Thank you so much for the timing!
Blogging is not the next big thing… it’s just a tool that helps facilitate all the coming next big things.
Hi Tony,
Thanks for this great post. It couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I agree with Brian that blogging is a tool to facilitate the next big things to come. After reading several blogs (this one included), I decided to start one myself, and it’s just amazing to discover that if you blog with a purpose and with the right frame of mind, the articles and the stories to share just keep on coming. I am looking forward to having “sucess from my own nest” someday and I always read this blog for encouragement.
Carlos
Travis – The key is to look for opportunities that arise around blogging and social applications. There’s a lot of potential that hasn’t been tapped, just not in the usual places.
Prix – Glad to be of service
Brian – I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Carlos – Sounds like you have a good perspective. That frame of mind will also help you capitalize when the right thing comes along.
Woot Procrastination! Lol I still remember how I kept saying “I will do it tomorrow!”…next day: “I will do it tomorrow!”…lol
You’re right on this. We also miss out on a lot of opportunities when we procrastinate.
I also hate to reinvent the wheel as well
Take care,
Sean
I read somewhere that if you want to be original then look at what everyone else is doing, and do something else. Sound familiar?
Love your point that the next big thing hasn’t happened yet. If it had happened, it wouldn’t be “next” and there will always be another next.
Tony this is so true. The important thing is to ACT, to take a step forward no matter how small. It is easy to play the when/then game (when X happens, then I’ll do Y) but there comes a time when you realise that you can’t waste your life waiting for something to happen.
you are 100% right. there is no better time to start then now. i know a lot of people always saying things like i have no time, let`s see how it works first and i try it later. there is no better time then now. so what ever you want to do start it right away. hey stop first take a look at my blog and start then. just kidding. start right away.
My only problem is the emphasis on being the next hot item…that idea doesn’t turn me on. I’m more moved by stories like the one I read in the Wall Street journal a few days ago. It’s about a researcher who noticed that female rats recovered faster from brain damage than the males did. He wanted to know why but was told to forget it. He didn’t. He essentially sacrificed a promising career to pursue the study as best he could. Now suddenly brain damage is a hot item and his approach is getting big-time support. He’s excited, of course… there’s a chance his work will help the lives of thousands of people.
Would he have been a failure if his work was never recognized? Not by my values. “Play your part well and let go of the results” is what I try to live by. Just a different point of view for the sake of discussion.
Anyway, another well-written post, Tony.
WarriorBlog – Yep. You reach a point when you really need to ask, “What’s stopping me?”
Terry – Nicely put. When the future become the present, it’s good to have your role thought out
Kate – It’s amazing how just taking a small step can launch you forward. Most people never take action.
Hoto – The idea is to look around, find your target, and act.
Jean – It’s not about looking for the next hot item, it’s about being aware of what’s coming. Every successful entrepreneur I’ve ever known has done this — watched the horizon and saw where things are going.
Yup….I did it right now. Opened my online gallery. Now I need to add more paintings to it. Thank you for your wonderful blog, it inspires me!
Tony,
Good point. Certainly Steve Jobs has been a genius at figuring out what will work.
Also, it’s not just entrepreneurs that need to keep abreast and anticipate. When I was working my group leader kept saying, “Don’t fall into the activity trap!” He liked our enthusiasm and work ethic, but he said don’t spend all of our time on today’s work. If we did we would be obsolete in no time.
Fantastic article
Thanks for writing.