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In order to get started on building your personal brand, business, or just expanding on your passion, we need motivation to get there. I have spoken to dozens of business owners and entrepreneurs and compiled 5 very simple F words to get you started on your journey.
Although these 5 F words are words we use very often, when we put them together, and in this particular order, it makes sense and helps us to start seeing our future as a plan.
Find It
Often times, we don't start something knowing for sure it's what we want to do. So we try it. Until you have an inkling of whatever direction you want to go in, what you might be good at, a new interest, etc., keep searching until you find what it is that puts that extra light in your eyes.
It can be hard if you don't know where to start but you have the opportunity to be a part of a world where we have the ability to pivot and try different things. Unless you are interested in settling for something that's good enough, use your spare time or create spare time to go on a journey, maybe literally, to discover your passion.
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn said that “we are an average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.” Look around at your circle of friends and associates. Are they doing things you are interested in, going places where you want to be, etc.? It might be time to start networking. You don’t need to completely shift your circle of friends...well, that’s for you to decide...but consider where and with whom you spend your time and decide of this is helping you get closer to your goal. If not, look for other events and make connections that can help you figure it out.
Figure it Out
No one said this was going to be easy. As you lean in and start to notice little things that capture your attention, take some time and sit with it so that you know how to align it with your goals, brand, and personality. Which pieces align with you and which pieces don’t? When you find find something, it will take some time to adjust to it and get it to your liking.
Maybe you have heard the term ‘10-year overnight success’ and if you haven’t, glad I could present it to you. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes of some major corporations, brands and talents. What we often see is the success and not too often the years of work it took them to get there. Often times, the figuring out part is still happening. No one was born knowing exactly how to do something. Yes, there are natural talents, but even still, there is some figuring out to do to make sure the process we developed works.
Try writing it down, or if you are a visual person, create a vision board. Whatever the method, develop a system that is a constant reminder of your goal and will push you to get there. Keep these things somewhere you can see it. It does no justice to make the plan, and never revisit it. That’s when we begin to finesse it.
Finesse It
When you do find it, and believe you have it figured out, don't just stop there. No one said there had to be one way to do things. Finesse it, refine it, and look at it from different angles. You may think you have found one thing and when you change your perspective, you come across a whole different point of view on how to make it work for you.
After you start to look into things more, you may make an effort to act on your plan and realize that some things work better for you than others. So take it back to the drawing board. You may not need to scrap the whole idea, just keep your eraser handy and turn that left into a right. Turn the pieces of the plan that didn’t work for you into something that does. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, take the time to build your empire.
Making things right take time. There will be lots of work and some of our efforts may even result in perceived failures.
Fail At It
I interned at W+K agency many years ago and here i first heard the term 'Fail Harder.' When you start something, you might be lucky enough to hit the nail on the head the first time. Often times, that's not the case. If your first attempt doesn't work, go at it again and maybe 'fail' some more.
Sometimes it can be hard to accept these failures but you never know what your failure can lead you to. We may not all get it right on the first try but when we do try, and things don’t go according to plan, we can see what we like, what we didn’t like, and adjust from there to get it right the next time. So go ahead, fail more often because out of those failed attempts can come your greatest success.
Never Finalize It
There's always competition, externally and internally. Challenge yourself to be your best self. This sometimes means that you look at where you started and you might be happy with the results but that doesn't mean you have to set it in stone. Think about how much more you can grow. You have come this far. Why stop now?
