Entrepreneur aha! moments: Just do it
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 7:51PM 
Inspiring photo came from Sabina, PR diva, at Red Branch PR.
My friend Karen, founder of recently launched Talent Branders, said to me the other day, "I finally realized I know a lot, I know what I need to do, now I just need to go do it." I was nodding my head, yep, been there!
But what about those days when you want to throw in the towel, close-up shop, forget about your dreams (there just dreams anyways) because clearly you don't know a thing, can't possibly achieve success, compete with all the other brilliance out there or pursue your passions while juggling the other million to-do's that get in the way. Do you have those days?
This little voice in your head that talks you into sabotaging everything you have ever learned, earned, accomplished or aspire to be is called THE RESISTANCE or in Seth Godin's words, The Lizard Brain.
Seth Godin boldly explains "The Reason You're Stuck" in his latest guest post at Zenhabits. Personally, I think it's one of Seth's best. Clearly, Seth has fought The Lizard Brain and won. To read Seth's latest brilliance and instant bestseller, check out his new book Linchpin, my next read.
Below are Seth's words that hit me in the heart from his post on Zenhabits, The Reason You're Stuck.
Why is it so difficult to ship?
Ship as in get it out the door. Ship as in make a difference at work. Ship as in contribute your art and vision and expertise and passion to the project you’re working on.
What separates the few who ship from the masses who stumble, stall and ultimately surrender?
The resistance.
The resistance is that little voice in the back of your head, the one that tells you that it will never work, the one that insists you check your email one last time, the one that worries that people will laugh at you. The resistance creates fear and uncertainty, and it will do almost anything to keep you from being noticed.
The resistance finds excuses, it makes tasks needlessly complex (or oversimplifies so much that you fail). The resistance uses phrases like, “see, I told you it would never work.”
The resistance demands that you study the issue more, or grab a Diet Coke, or go visit those friends who are in from out of town and you won’t be able to see them unless you go right now.
The resistance sabotaged my work for years. It pushed me to focus on average topics, delivered in a blameless way, because that felt safer. No one looked at my sort of average work and called me out on it, because they were fighting the very same resistance as I was. It’s surprisingly easy to get through life and make a career out of being average… the resistance would prefer it if you did.
When the resistance appears, you must call it out. Call it by name. Recognize it for what it is and then defeat it. You will defeat it not by rationalization or even a calm discussion. You will defeat it with single-minded effort, effort so deep and dedicated that it might exhaust you.
You must find something SO IMPORTANT that it is worth enraging your prehistoric fears, SO IMPORTANT that you can’t sleep until it ships, SO IMPORTANT that yes, you are willing to go through all the hoops in order to ship.
Either that, or you could be mediocre instead.
I think it's time to squash the lizard head!
Entrepreneur Aha! Moments is a weekly column where entrepreneurs share their truths and power tips to inspire others into action. Click here to read past ones. Have an aha! moment you want to share? Contact me here.
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Reader Comments (7)
Dude. You rock.
Wait a minute. Didn't I comment that on your last entrepreneurial Aha! moment?!
For me it sums up to 2 words for 2010:
Faith & Focus.
That's my theme that is helping me launch my practice into that next phase. And it's already happening. Woohoo!
Seth is right. It wasn't until I connected with my calling that the faith, focus, and the success began to kick in. I spent years reading email instead of serving more peeps!
Thanks for sharing this!
TY! You rock for sharing your thoughts. I think every person, whether an entrepreneur, a mom, working for a company or a homeless person, deals with the resistance until you finally recognize it for what it is and identify that passion that Seth talks about. I have always loved Seth but his latest book and thoughts are REALLY GOOD. Hugs! Misty
Hey Misty
How awesome to put all of that together! Seth Godin is a great example of just going for it and it's perfect he did a blog for Zen. It's so much fun to feel people finding their unique passion and getting into the flow without the fight of resistance. Yay!!!
Hi Karen! Thanks for the comment! We all need to unite to help fight the power of resistance! :) Hugs, Misty
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and so many time we listened this words come from our parente, specially when you wanted to talk about some theme like sex, or what is Generic Viagra, the good thing about this, I learned from this error, to avoid it in the future with my children.
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