Begin…
Welcome to your first CHANGE GUIDE mini-guide!
Whether it is launching a new business or saying hello to a healthy new you, there are tools and processes which can help with any transformation. The principles are the same regardless of whether the context is professional, personal and irrespective of industry or location.
In this series of mini-guides, we break the process down into digestible and actionable chunks. Each one comes with an activity worksheet to complete offline and a worked example to keep you on track.
1. Introduction:
This guide is, appropriately, all about beginning well, since in any venture, just getting to the starting line can be the first big challenge. Having an idea and making it happen are not the same thing!
Future guides will tackle other topics related to change, but Mini-Guide1 aims specifically to help you navigate the ups and downs of getting started with turning your dreams into reality.
Whatever you can do or think you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2. Beginning vs Starting
Have you ever got up in the early hours to travel to an important event?
When you are ready to leave, the travelling itself is easy. It’s all the preparation time ahead of departure which takes effort. Scheduling transport; selecting accommodation; finding a suitable outfit; working out what to say when you get there – these preparation activities can all start weeks before the event. Then there are the day-before tasks, sorting laundry, packing the suitcase; laying out tickets, money and ID; ordering the taxi, setting the alarm for an ungodly hour!…
Preparation takes time. It takes planning and it takes action. In fact, getting ready can feel like a hassle at times! If the event were not important, you might even cancel altogether!
Not being ready can hinder us in one of two ways, depending on personality type and current motivation level.
Sometimes, it is the just do it mindset which takes centre stage and causes us to lack focus. For example, to get to an event, we may decide to simply jump in a car and head off in the right general direction – without checking destination details on the map. With luck, we may even arrive at approximately the right time and place!
It would not be surprising however, were we to get a little lost and have to pull over and frantically check the location. Or we may arrive on time, only to find out there is no accommodation available, since we did not prepare effectively by booking ahead. We could find that we ended up driving further than needed – missing a suitable shortcut that would have been visible on the map, if we had only taken time to look.
Other times, with a more anxious disposition about the change, we can suffer from analysis paralysis, failing to start altogether. Reluctant to leave our comfort zone, we have excuses such as ‘I’m not ready for it… It’s too far. .. I don’t know the way’.
Sometimes we act as if we were not good enough to achieve, whereas, in truth, we did not even try. It would only take a quick look at the map for us to learn and then we would know the way. A moment to reflect on and evaluate unhelpful assumptions could make a difference.
If we do the preparatory task of finding out exactly how far away the destination is, we would for example, open up a decision about whether to fill up with more fuel or enquire about alternative transport options. All that was needed was a little preparation activity.
When we behave in these characteristic ways in the face of change, we can quickly become disheartened. We either give up half way through an ill-thought out action because things have gone wrong, or we sit back and fail to act, consigning ourselves to never meeting the challenge. We may even start to resent those who do make it and can become bitter towards them.
Beginning the journey is not the same as being ready for a controlled start.
Preparation is important to:
- ensure our efforts are focussed in the right direction
- provide a set of simple to follow actionable steps, preventing unnecessary hesitation, waste and/or delay.
- maintain positive emotional balance and self esteem.
3. Getting Yourself Ready
When we talk about making final preparations for an event, we speak of ‘getting ourselves ready’. The phrase implies both physical preparation (washing, dressing etc) and also any mental preparation required (eg. gathering thoughts together before a speech). Each of these elements are important.
How many times have you known what you need to do, but not been in the right frame of mind to actually do it? Whether studying for an impending exam deadline or cutting the grass while the sun is shining, knowing what needs to be done, and having the motivation to get it done can be very different things!
We also experience times when we are bursting with enthusiasm and want to go ahead, but simply do not know what to do. Consider for example, the first time a learner driver gets into the driver’s seat of a car. The controls are right there. But did you/would you drive perfectly on lesson 1? It is unlikely! Most of us need an experienced instructor to tell us which of the controls to use and in which order!
Any time that we set out to make lasting and transformational change, in business or in life, is no different. We also need both of these types of readiness – physical and emotional. Until both the physical and mental preparations are complete, we are not ready to make a start. Instead, we can begin the preparations. By doing so, we increase our state of physical and mental readiness.
4. How?
The first step is simply taking time to work out what is required for you to get to the starting line. What needs to be true or be in place for you to be able to, or feel ready to start? Write it down in a physical list. Make it real. Once it is spelled out and the tasks can be identified, we can take the preparatory actions to close the gap between where we are now, and where we need to be to make it happen.
4a. Activity: Download and print the Mini-Guide1 Activity Sheet file below. Work through the questions to help identify your first steps. You can also review File 4b, a worked example of how Bill, an aspiring hotelier, made progress on his dream goal of running a hotel in his favourite spot.
5. Summary:
If you are at the beginning of a new venture/looking to undertake a new goal, taking action in line with activity 1 will help change your state from a passive wishing or from an indiscriminate, scattergun approach, to a more positive, systematic and planned ‘doing’ approach to preparing for the change. Change does not happen simply because you wish it, but we do have the ability to make a vision come to life by taking the right steps to make it happen and to become more expert by what we consistently do.
Completing the activity will help you to
- clarify your goals
- evaluate where you are now vs the ‘start line’
- identify and take appropriate targeted action to close the gap
Welcome to the journey! If you need additional one-to-one support, contact us. Otherwise, crack on and comment after to let us know how you get on!
The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action
Alexander Graham Bell