The last generation of road warriors—before pulling out of the driveway—typically spent quite a bit of time studying maps and anticipating road construction detours. From experience, they knew that an hour at the kitchen table could save miles of white knuckle frustration. For today’s travelers, meticulous advance planning for road trips is no longer necessary.
Discerning the fastest route and possible delays is now just a few clicks away on your favorite map app. Even before you make your first turn, you can know which roads are fastest, shortest, cheapest, and most scenic. The result is you get where you’re going sooner and smoother.
Time is saved twice. Before you get in the car. And on the road as your GPS-empowered map app prompts you to adjust your route. Your primary job is to buckle up, punch the ignition, and give it some gas.
In other words, just get started. Which is far and away the best advice for anyone with the goal of making the most out of the next year.
Yes, you should look before you leap. Yes, haste makes waste. Yes, if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. But you also have to agree with the old Irish proverb, “You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.”
Whatever your goal, think of it this way. Take a few steps and you’ll know very soon whether you’re going the right direction. It’s perfectly acceptable and even desirable to change course. Once you’re on the road, you can steer the truck. Turning the wheel while you’re still in the driveway does nothing.
Most entrepreneurs and innovators think they need to do more thinking. But they don’t. They’ve already spent many nights staring at the ceiling and many days doodling at their desk. Time flies when you’re having second thoughts. If you wait until you’re 100% ready, you’ll never leave the driveway.
Getting started and making adjustments along the way is the great secret of most professional doers.
Go back and watch the pilot or first season of your favorite sitcom. The cast and scriptwriters are just finding their way in the early episodes. Networks and showrunners launch a show expecting the personalities of the characters will change drastically as the first and second seasons unfold.
Reinventing yourself—adjusting as you go—is a fundamental tactic of every successful company. Think Apple, Amazon, and Netflix. Marvel’s profit center went from comics to films. General Motors is going electric. YouTube was originally a dating website. Lego, a Danish word meaning “play well,” was founded in 1932 to make wooden toys.
Got an idea? Jump on it. Expect your initial efforts to open the door to new discoveries. If you wait another year, there’s a very real chance that someone else will stumble across a similar idea and beat you to it.
Take a hint from Walt Disney, one of the great creative forces of the last century, who said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
Put still another way, “One year from today, you’ll want to have done something other than just being a year older.”
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