3 ways to Overcome Analysis/Paralysis or ‘Failure to Launch’

Remember the movie ‘Failure to Launch‘ with Matthew McConaughey where he plays a 30-something slacker who has a job, a car and still lives with his parents? His parents, tired of his mooching, hire an interventionist to help him ‘launch’ his life.

Well, today I’m here to intervene and help you launch. Or at the very least, get started.

Let me guess.

• You have lots of ideas and have started a few but haven’t really gotten anywhere.
• You want to start but you’re not sure where to start.
• You’re not sure about your ideas.
• You’ve analyzed your idea from every which way but haven’t executed on it. In fact, you’re paralyzed.

I can get all preachy on you and pull out a few classic lines like-

“The first step is the hardest”

“Business is 10 percent coming up with the idea and 90 percent execution,.”

…but you’ve already heard all those, right?

You see there is a reason why those phrases are popular. They are coined by people who actually started..who have been there/done that.

Today I want to give you three ways on how to actually overcome that analysis/paralysis and actually get started on your BIG idea!

1. Do Your Own Thing

Stop looking at what everyone else is doing and start doing your own thing.

This is huge. We have a tendency to measure ourselves against our peers and consequently start second guessing what we are doing or wanted to do. Social media does not help this as we are constantly inundated by everyone else’s achievements. Lesson here: Pick your project and start focussing. Create your own goals and carve away at them.

2. Pick ONE

Pick one idea and start.

Oooh this is a tough because all of your ideas are awesome, right? Start that blog that you’ve been meaning to start for the last 6 months but you have been waiting for the perfect time to start. There is no more perfect time than right now (but finish reading first, k!)

3. SHIP

Build.Measure.Adjust (otherwise known as Experiment!).

Say, what? Okay, I had to throw some engineering-speak in there but this applies to any idea. Try something, see what works and then adjust. Often times we feel like we have to wait until something is perfect before we release it to the world, but there is opportunity to learn if we put things out iteratively. And it’s worth mentioning that just because you start a blog does not mean the whole world will be visiting it that very same day.  It will take time to hone your craft so put it out there and learn and adjust as you go. The key thing is to start so that you can actually benefit from the process of learning.

BONUS: FAILING IS OK

It is okay to fail. Not every idea is successful but you won’t actually  know until you try. And you will learn from failure.

Or.. you can just sit on that potential million dollar idea and wait for someone else to execute 😉

So what do you think, worth giving a shot?

Photo Credit: Jake and Lindsay