My husband plays the french horn and is part of a local orchestra. Last weekend they had their yearly Children’s Concert and it was so much fun. They had a clown during the first piece, “Circus Overture” and during intermission they had an “Instrument Petting Zoo” where the kids could try out instruments that were their size (on a side note, one of my nephews plays the violin and when he was small, he had a tiny violin that was adorable).
However, in my eyes, one of the coolest things they did was allow the kids to “direct” the orchestra. Each child had just under a minute to stand on the director’s podium and “direct.” They each received their own baton to keep.
The kids were all excited to step up and try their hand at directing. From where I sat it didn’t look like any of them were concerned with doing it right. And it was fun to see some of them turn around and look for their parents with a huge smile on their face.
When was the last time you just jumped into something? You didn’t worry about if you were doing it “right” or “wrong” you just jumped in and tried it out and trusted that it would work out somehow.
Earlier this week I was at an event with a panel of speakers. The topic was about taking the plunge into business and the panel consisted of three women with different businesses in different stages. They shared their stories of how they started and where they are now.
One of the themes someone pointed out after a bit was “ignorance is bliss.” Meaning, if they knew exactly what they were getting into, they might not have done it. And also, sometimes they were really successful because they didn’t know you were supposed to do it a different way – that the path they should have taken (according to others) was over there and instead they followed this little, slightly overgrown path and it worked out really, really well.
When was the last time you didn’t worry about having enough information and moved forward anyway?
Personally, I’m a planner. I like to have steps mapped out. And since we’re in the “information age,” there is no shortage of information about the right way to do things. When you search for something, you can find hundreds of articles and they all claim to be the way to do it – and yet they seem to contradict each other.
So, where does that leave the planners? Frustrated, overwhelmed and really tired.
Have I made mistakes, had huge blind spots and been really frustrated? Yep. I bet you have too. Many times, the mistakes were because I was listening to someone else and not trusting myself.
Don’t let the worry and the fear hold you back. Trust yourself. The world needs you, your voice, your gifts.
Step forward into the unknown and know that you will be supported, just reach out.
Leap and the net will appear.
Do you trust that? Or are you so busy clinging to the side of the cliff that you haven’t looked down to see the net there waiting for you?
Running a business is scary sometimes isn’t it? And you know what, despite the fear, I bet you really wouldn’t have it any other way.