The Power of Starting Something Stupid summary

Imagine you’re 80 years old, sitting in your rocking chair, looking back at your life and thinking, “I wish I’d gone after that foolish idea I had back then.” Awful, right? If there’s anything you need in your old age, it’s the knowledge that you did everything possible to live your dreams while you were still able to.  

Unfortunately, there’s always an excuse for not pursuing your dreams right this moment. Many people live by the deferred life plan, meaning they first do what they have to do (earn money) and only then do what they want to do. This leads people to try to get rich fast and then attempt to live their dreams.

There’s nothing quite as daunting as beginning a project. The goal you’re striving for can seem huge and far away. How can you make sure you don’t get lost along the way?

Breaking your big future benchmark of success into smaller steps will keep you motivated. For example, if you’re dreaming of becoming a successful blogger, you can start with several smaller projects, such as writing your first posts and achieving a certain number of views per month.

We’re all afraid of failure, and nobody wants to admit that their plan isn’t working. But bold ideas require courage, and crushing your fear of failure is the first step towards your goal.

How can we learn to be brave?

If you’re determined to succeed on your own, you’re only making things harder for yourself. By surrounding yourself with knowledgeable people, you’ll have a supportive safety net that you can rely on, even just for something like a second opinion. So how can we build ourselves these networks?

One way is to approach someone who has already been through what you’re doing. For example, if you want to pitch an idea for a business to a group of investors, you can ask for advice from someone who successfully pitched her work to the group.

Once you start building a trusted network around you, you’ll find the resources available to you increase. Whether it’s money, advice or experience, you can find what you’re looking for among your network.

Getting fixated on what you don’t have is not going to get your idea moving. Instead, you should make do with what you’ve got and embrace ingenuity. In fact, many businesses achieve success by being resourceful and leveraging what they have.