3 Harsh Lessons I Learned About Starting a Business.

Avoiding these mistakes will save you a lot of time.

I thought I had it under control. I thought I was on track to achieve the goals I set. I thought I would improve my situation.

But, I was wrong. I underestimated the tasks I burdened myself with.

The task of building a business, fortifying my habits, and writing consistently led me into a rabbit hole.

A rabbit hole of over-analyzing and the treacherous trap of being in motion instead of taking action.

But hey, the good thing is that I can write this article now, so that you may learn the lessons I had to learn the hard way and avoid my mistakes.

Taking Action Vs. Being in Motion.

I already described the concept of Being in motion and taking action in this article:

Anyone who read “Atomic Habits” by James clear knows what I’m talking about.

(If you haven’t, do it. It’s a book I sincerely recommend to anyone interested in self-improvement.)

“Being in motion” describes the phenomenon of doing “busy work” as a form of procrastination.

I.e. the act of overanalyzing, strategizing, and planning the actions you want to take.

In contrast, taking action means actually doing the stuff you are procrastinating about.

For content creators, this means you plan your posts, develop content strategies, and do research, instead of creating content.

I researched and planned how I should build my writing business in the last few days. Yet I didn’t write a single piece of content or did anything productive.

Just Do It.

The power of this simple wisdom should not be underestimated. Shoutout to Nike for picking an absolute banger of a slogan, I guess.

Whatever you are planning to build or create, whatever you want to learn or do. Just do it. Don’t overthink and develop a world-changing strategy. Don’t analyze every last bit of your plan.

Sure, planning and analyzing have their place, but after you took action. Analyze the mistakes you made in taking action.

Make a plan to ease your process of taking action — after you found its flaws.

Start first, learn from your mistakes as you go.

Don’t Burden Yourself With Astronomical Tasks.

This crushed my progress.

I figured as I had written a few articles and found some followers, I will write more regularly, repurpose my content on half a dozen of platforms, build my website, and grow an email list.

Also, I will build a reading habit and eat more to supply my bulk and workout routine.

All that while I am preparing for my final exams, of course.

This, my fellow readers, was when the antagonist of my story entered the stage. His name was paralysis by analysis. And oh boy, did he humble me.

Because this is what your subconscious looks like when you burden yourself with too many tasks:

• Write articles!
• Learn to drive traffic via Twitter!
• Learn to drive traffic via LinkedIn!
• Learn to drive traffic via Quora!
• Learn to build a website!
• Set up a newsletter on convertkit!
• Learn SEO!
• Prepare for the exams!
• Check your nutrition!
• Read!

The consequence? I didn’t do anything. Like at all. I just didn’t know where to start. I sabotaged myself by putting too much pressure on myself.

Having the bigger picture in mind to keep you going is ok, but don’t let it distract you from the path right in front of you.

Key Takeaways

Don’t mistake being in motion for taking action. Prioritize creating content, and learning skills over making plans and schedules.

Start right away and learn along the way. Just do it.

Don’t let the bigger frighten you. Focus on the steps ahead of you, only using your bigger vision to draw motivation and purpose from it.