Do it scared

Take the leap

Do you have a new year’s resolution?

I believe that a major reason people don’t follow through with their wishes and dreams is fear. Taking the jump to do something that is out-of-course of your life, that requires you to do something uncomfortable, is scary.

It’s likely that your direct social circles are based on what you are currently doing. You’re not going to be inspired to do new things by the people that make up the old thing you are in right now. That’s likely always going to be true. The further from here, the more unknowns are there and therefore scarier a thing is.

But doing scary things is where life happens. It’s where you go from doing the thing that everyone expects you to do, to becoming the person that did the thing. Or in worst case, it’s where you go from the person that you are today, to the person that tried something really scary. And who do we look up to if not for people that do really scary things.

So: do the really scary thing. Just do it scared.

Do the thing you want to try. Don’t talk yourself down from it. Don’t diminish your dream into a pipe dream (which I just learned comes from the hallucinations while smoking opium in a pipe), or inversely make it seem so impossibly large that starting it seems impossible.

“I always wanted to..” is a sentence often followed by wishes of starting ones own business, or doing something very different than what one is doing today. I think there is a real, viable path to get there:

Start by imagining the path to its fullest extend assuming things go well. You want to open a bakery? Okay, let’s assume you get a loan to open a bakery, find a place to get started. Are you willing to get up super early every morning to bake? Willing to live on thin margins while you gain customers slowly?
Still up for it? Let’s imagine things going wrong. In fact, you should assume many things will go wrong. One of the greatest predictors of success is just not giving up. By failing a lot, you learn a lot, and through that, become better and ultimately more successful.

You’re not going to give up. You’re willing to live the dream to its fullest. Now remains the doing. The scary bit. And so that I say: Do it scared. Do it while feeling like you’re not competent. You’re a novice and still going for it (everyone is at first, but it might not feel like that).

A lifetime ago I left science to found my own startup. I didn’t have a very complete plan, nor any money. But I knew that the only way to do this seriously was to make the jump fully: leave academia, leave a (albeit very tiny) salary and face the deadline of the little cash I had.
I failed. I ran out of money before I was able to make or raise any. Yet, I still think this was one of the most successful things I’ve done in my life. Not for the success in the thing, but rather for the success of not clinging onto safety.
When I ran out of money - not very long after I started - I had to get a job! That was it. The world didn’t end. I had to get a job, earn some money, and over the years I just kept trying.
Before Remote.com, I built many little startups, companies, apps, ideas. Most were dead on arrival. Some made a bit of money. Eventually, luck + time worked out, and I’ve been able to pay myself and a few thousand people a salary for the past seven years. Success!

Although I’m sure some of us simply enjoy the fantasy of dreams, I believe there is a large number of people living their lives in a way they will come to regret at the end of it. And that can change. By action, and not giving up. It’ll be scary while you’re in it. But you’ll be living the dream. You will be person that did the thing.