Stop Talking, Start Doing E-Book

Sháá Wasmund

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 94

Beschreibung

There's never been a better time, or a more urgent time, to start doing the things you want to do. Perhaps you feel your career is stuck in a rut - or maybe you're in the wrong job altogether. Or maybe you have a great business idea but something is stopping you from actually getting started. You may already be running a business but struggling to get to it to where you want it to be. Or perhaps you just want to be more successful in general - without knowing exactly what your vision of success is - yet! If you want to do something but secretly fear you're never going to do it, whatever that might be, then this will help you. Stop Talking, Start Doing is a short, clear and cleverly illustrated book that will inspire you to take action. Whatever you want to achieve, this is the kick in the pants you need to get to where you truly want to be. It's great that you know you can do more, but just thinking about it, won't make it happen. It's doing that makes the difference. DO IT. If you've got something you want to do... now is a good time to start.

Leseprobe

Stop Talking, Start Doing

Part 1: TICK TOCK

Part 2: THE ITCH

Part 3: FEAR AND REGRET

Part 4: START

Part 5: THE ART OF DECISION-MAKING

Part 6: ...AND ACTION

Accreditations

Acknowledgments

This was supposed to be about something else. It’s not what we expected it to be. But once we started, it took on a life of its own. And now it's this. And as a result it’s hopefully better than the original idea.

Such is life. Such happy things only happen if you get started on something. There’s something to say about this in Part 4.

Originally the book was intended specifically for people teetering on the brink of setting up their own first business and in need of a friendly shove in the right direction. But it changed.

The impetus needed to start a business is the same as anyone teetering on the brink of anything. So for you—this is your kick in the pants.

If you want to do something but secretly fear you’re never going to do it, whatever that might be, then this might help you:

Go to the AmazonThrow yourself into retrainingLose a dress sizeGo back to schoolWrite a bookDitch your partnerTake your company in a new directionCreate artLearn to play poloSeek the promotion you want…OR set up your own business.

As a result it’s not written just for the entrepreneurial business person but for the entrepreneurial in spirit. The lessons, the advice, the nagging, the cartoons, the jokes, the exaggerations and the things that possibly never really happened… all these things apply to anyone trying to cross that bridge between their dreams and their reality.

Talking of the things-that-probably-never-really-happened…

A Tibetan Lama was speaking to a group of monks and to make a point, pulled out a large jar, set it on the table in front of him, produced a few fist-sized rocks, and placed them, one by one, into the jar.

When no more rocks would fit inside, he asked: “Is this jar full?” Everyone said: “Yes.” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel, dumped some in and shook the jar, the gravel worked between the rocks. Again, he asked: “Is this jar full?” The monks were catching on. “Probably not,” one answered.

“Good!” he replied and reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He dumped the sand into the jar until it filled all the crevices. Once more he asked: “Is this jar full?”

“No!” the monks shouted. “Good!” he said and grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” One young monk responded, “The point is, no matter how full your day you can always fit some more things in.”

“No,:” the speaker replied, “the point is that if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the priorities in your life?”1

To join the chat, go to www.facebook.com/stoptalkingstartdoing

PART 1

TICK TOCK

“What is past is prologue.”

William Shakespeare

“Eyes front!”

Any drill sergeant in any army anywhere

Life has a sting in the tail. 

It’s shorter than we expect.

And it races by while we’re working out what’s really important and what actually isn’t.

As time roars past our ears we drift, deliberate, doubt and take ourselves too seriously yet all the while we talk about what we would, could and should do to make it better.

And then it’s gone.

So let’s walk the talk.

Because there’s never been a better time, or a more

urgent time, to start doing the things you want to do.

Let’s dance.

The speed of life

This book is about starting.

It’s about shifting from the static to the active state; the state where things happen because you initiated them.

It’s about shifting gears, moving direction, transforming what you do with your day, your week, your time and taking control; it’s about deliberately putting one foot in front of the other and moving with purpose instead of being carried along by the current.

There’s never been a better time to start something. Now more than ever we live in a world of opportunity.

But the downside to this world of opportunity — brought about by new technology and new social and working conventions — is a world that seduces us into drifting through life.

Things like: shopping, web-surfing, casual tweeting, photo-commenting and status-updating. It’s not that these things aren’t fun or even good. But while it might feel like you’re “doing” — in large part thanks to the power of billions of dollars of marketing — you might have a feeling that there’s got to be more to life.

You might have an itch.

Life is short.

If you’ve got something you want to do… now is a good time to start.

…Here are four reasons why…

The wheels are greased.

Our connected world makes it possible for people to actualize dreams, ideas and initiative in ways our forebears could not even dream of.

1. Whatever you want to know is accessible instantly. Want to collect fountain pens from around the world, want to learn how to collect truffles, want to find someone to build a mobile phone app for you in another continent, want to retrain, want to research how to bicycle across the world…? No problem. It's all at your fingertips.

2. Need to locate expert help? Then connect with people who can help you. The soaring development of the social web has demolished barriers between you and the expertise you need. It empowers you to ask friends of friends (and friends of friends of friends) if they can offer advice, make introductions, share experiences.

3. Tribe up. Whatever it is you want to start doing—a business, a work of art, a social project, setting up a partnership of website information architects—there are people somewhere in the world who share your passion. Want to find people to trade antique fountain pens with? There are thousands of them. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to find people who share your passion. You can support each other, learn from each other, do business with each other. The author Seth Godin2 calls these groups of shared passions: “Tribes.”

4. The “barriers to entry” have collapsed. OK, so that's a business term and we're not just talking about business. But the point is that the cost of setting up many businesses or even non-business projects has collapsed. Most digital start-ups don't even need an office but work from shared space or coffee shops. This has, for example, had an impact on the venture capital world. The power used to be in the hands of the VCs because you needed money to set up a business and they would exact a heavy price for the cash. Now that it doesn't cost so much to start up, the power is with people who have ideas and the “gumption” to make them happen.

Viva la Revolución!

Viva gumption!

5. You're already at the centre of the universe. And if in fact you are starting a business or collecting fountain pens from around the world, the global markets are wide open for business. From your front room.

The fat is in the pan.Get cooking.

The boat is being rocked.

The conventions of society that dictated the correct way to behave and whose arched eyebrows used to hold people’s dreams in check are vanishing. In the big cities they’re already long gone. The world is too connected for that and it moves too fast.

1. Sixty years ago a gentleman wouldn’t go to work without a hat on; ten years ago they stopped wearing ties. Now you don’t have go into work to go to work… so who knows what people are wearing. But the point is: who cares?!

Society cares less about conformity than it used to. This makes it easier to swim against the current. Easier to do something different, to challenge convention. If you want to give up your job and travel round the world, learn to juggle, join a commune — your neighbours might cough and shake their heads but you can cope with that…Or they might just tell you how they always wanted to do the same thing.

2. The concept of a job for life is long gone. The tramlines that used to confine a career from start to finish; from apprenticeship to grave aren’t imposed by anyone but you. It’s not unusual to hold down three part-time jobs at once or to shift jobs every couple of years. In response to the absence of job security we have had to become more agile in our approach to work. Self-employment is soaring.

3. You are going to live a long time. Life expectancy goes up and up. If you’re going to be around a long time you might as well do something you enjoy for as much of that time as possible.

Pimp your ride.

The boat is already being rocked.

Some examples of how lifestyle, work, society and leisure are changing.

The most entrepreneurial country in the West is built on failure

10% of US companies go bust every year.

(Source: economist and writer, Paul Omerod)

Folk managing themselves and themselves alone

18m people work in non-employer businesses. Meaning they have no boss and they have no staff underneath them.

They just get up and do.

(Source: US Census Bureau)

Locations where work was conducted during the past month

(Source: Telework Trendlines 2009 by World at Work using data collected by the Dierenger Research Group)

Folk escaping the cubicle on a daily basis

13.5m people telecommute every day in the United States. 33.7m telecommute at least one day per month.

(Source: Telework Trendlines 2009 by World at Work using data collected by the Dierenger Research Group)

Folk escaping the cubicle for a long time

Over 20% of companies offer a sabbatical program that allows employees to take significant periods of time off to pursue personal interests.

(Source: “Boomers Taking More ‘Life Sabbaticals’” by Jane Ganahl, May 10, 2011, www.secondact.com)

Lots of people share the same starting line

It’s estimated that one in every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed by McDonald’s.

(Source: New York Times)

…And lots of people don’t: being different is becoming the new norm

Measured in 2011, 34% of the population of Greater London in 2011 was born outside the UK. That’s up from 27% in 200l.

(Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater London)

Small businesses are everywhere

2% of enterprises in the UK have more than 50 staff. 88% have fewer than 10 staff.

(Source Office of National Statistics)

You will live longer

So do something you enjoy.

(Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, 54(19), June 28, 2006. www.cdc.gov/nchs)

And there’s a lot of us around

About 7% of all the people who have ever lived are alive today.

(Source: Carl Haub, “How many people have ever lived on Earth?” Population Reference Bureau)

The dominant habitat of the global species is the city

Percentage of population living in cities: