The Strength in Imperfect Start

When you have a goal in mind - whether it is traveling the world, eating healthier food, opening a business, or starting with a new pastime, we often look at people who are good at it or successful in the field, we try to imitate them and reverse engineer their strategy.

In some cases, learning from them is a good way to accelerate the learning curve and commit fewer mistakes. But it is equally important to keep in mind that the system, habits, and strategy that they are employing today are not the same as where they had started. What is optimal for them right now is not necessarily needed for you to get started. There is a difference between the two. Let me explain.

What is Optimal vs. What is Needed:

If you set your bar at “amazing,” it is awfully difficult to start —Seth Godin

Learning from others is great but comparing your current situation to them can make you feel resource-deprived to get started at the first place. If you look at their current optimal setup you feel demotivated, and it will urge you to buy new things and make your setup ready to get started towards the first step toward your goals. And usually, that is not true. Here are some examples.

Traveling the world – Every time I travel, I see many backpackers equipped with all the latest gears: rainproof bags, moisture-wicking clothes, special shoes. Sure, the gear is not useless as they make the journey easier but somewhere it is not required. It is not a necessary catalyst to get started. You do not require brand new Nike Air shoes to start running, instead, you need the will. Those things might be optimal, but they are not needed in the beginning.

Starting a business – When you are an entrepreneur, it is so easy to get obsessed with optimal and this is especially true at the start. The true art lies in the content and ideation behind the business instead of getting into fine details unless your business lies in designing and other related fields.

Eating healthy – Maybe the optimal diet would involve buying organic eggs, caviar, avocado, or vegetables that are only organic or some other super-healthy food strategy. But if you are just trying to take the steps in the right direction, why get bogged down in the minute details? Start small there will be plenty of time for optimization later.

Avoiding the Optimization

Claiming that you need to “get all of your ducks in a row” can often be a crutch that prevents you from moving forward on the stuff that actually matters.

• You can argue that it is hard to travel light without the right backpack, but the truth is you could make it work with what you have now.
• You can point out how a YouTuber is successful because they use expensive cameras and costly software, but they probably got started without it.

Stressing on these little things can be a clever excuse to restrict yourself from doing the hard work. Remember, every successful man you admire has started small and it is their hard work that has helped them reach the heights they are today. Consider this (1.0)³⁶⁵ = 1 but (1.01)³⁶⁵ = 37.78. See what wonders a small and persistent start can do. A little progress every day adds up to a big result.

An imperfect start can always be improved but obsessing over a perfect plan will never take you anywhere on its own.