2 Powerful Words to Kick Excuses to the Curb

Do you have a passion project that you have started a dozen times, put down, let collect dust, picked back up, but never saw across the finish line? Are you so excited about possibilities and potential and opportunity that it actually works against you sometimes?

If so, you're no alone. You and I are the same, friend.

I have a wide array of interests. So many so that I went from zero websites to three, practically overnight.

Is this because I suddenly hit the lotto, hired help and became a confident internet virtuoso? Absolutely not.

It's because I'm a normal person, who made normal excuses so familiar to most of us, and I was sick of it.

For years I have wanted a website. Why? Because it's always been fun and freeing to write, communication has always come naturally to me, and these days it acts as a creative balance to my finance-focused fay job.

What was holding me back? Well, that's where we cue up the excuses.

First and foremost, I had no subject matter. Or maybe more appropriately, I had no focused subject matter. The constant ping-pong game in my head kept me bouncing around with ideas, content and purpose without ever settling on just one, niche passion-project to channel my energy and focus.

I'd want to document my travels but was self-conscious about the diary-feel of the original WordPress blogs. Plus, I would have one great adventure and then be subjected back to the Ramen-noodle lifestyle of the collegiate woman on a budget.

Later, I became a craft beer geek and wanted to share the love with others, especially women intimidated by the bearded machismo enveloping the market. I didn't because of a twofold concern:

1. I'd look like an alcohol-obsessed millennial to future potential employers who wouldn't understand the art and “foodie” type appreciation I had for the industry.
2. I'd be “wrong” about my opinions and descriptions of the beers and brands. After all, I am no brewer, Cicerone or bearded-hipster, so who am I to tout myself as a craft beer nerd?

So I'd again bounce to a topic I felt I knew well: personal and career development. After all, I've always worked hard, volunteered, and strapped on my boots to prepare for that corporate ladder climb. I have career coached, resume revised and interview aced… and somehow still questioned how my under-30 self could be seen as an expert when there are clearly defined, admired industry leaders in the field.

Do you know what the answer was? The key to getting past it all?

So what?

Asking myself “So what?” has been the driving force behind finally getting started.

Asking myself, “So what?” has been the driving force behind finally getting started.

So what if there are first movers or industry leaders already out there? So what if I am not the premiere, numero uno extraordinaire in a subject matter? Considering I don't have a PhD, that will likely be the case for every subject in life if held to that regard.

But I realized, if I had started when I wanted to, it would have been about ten years ago. I would have been alongside, or even before, the huge rise in popularity and audience and demand for original voices and original content.

Maybe that wouldn't have been my forte, but it is a rude-awakening when you see how much has been accomplished- how much was possible – when I was busy making excuse for why it wasn't possible, or at least not for myself, or not at that moment.

I wanted perfection. I wanted processes and strategy; a strong branding identity; clarity and focus for my goals; purpose and target audience – all of the things we are taught are good and important for new ventures (and they are, don't get me wrong.) But if you are anything like me – a strategic, detail-oriented, rule follower, you've got to kick all that to the curb and ask, “So what?”

“If you are anything like me – a strategic, detail-oriented, rule follower, you've got to kick all that to the curb and ask, “So what?”

Let's learn as we go together. It won't always be glamorous or shiny. “Perfection” may have to become a dirty word, shunned from our vocabulary. But today, I am the proud owner of three websites, without the first clue of technology and web-design.

So what?