Just do it! 🏃♂️
Hi there!
Here we are, 2020. The leftovers from Christmas dinner are long gone and the smoke from the New Year’s Eve fireworks has cleared — Finally some time to look back and reflect.
As I look back, I can say that 2019 has been kind to me; I've designed an app for Facebook, launched our own investment app, started working together with Uber and my daughter Roos was born. All good things for which I'm tremendously thankful.
But like many previous years, I did not reach a lot of my personal goals.
✖️ Learn to play the guitar.
✖️ Publish work on Dribbble every 2 weeks.
✖️ Start a blog or newsletter.
✖️ Lose those extra 8 pounds my girlfriend so desperately wants me to lose.
Sure, you don't just reach these kind of goals. They require a long term commitment and a dedicated block of time in my weekly schedule, but they aren't technically hard — I could've started working on them at any given moment.
So I started to think about why I haven’t reached my goals. Here's what I came up with. Heads up, they might sound awkwardly familiar to you.
⏱ I don't have the time
“I have 2 kids, I have a full time job, I'm trying to keep my startup running, I play soccer 3 times a week and still want to have some form of a social life. I don't have the time!”
This is the #1 excuse I tell myself. And honestly, this is a shitty excuse — I play video games for about 10 hours a week, I have plenty of time.
The real issue is that I have to divide my time between all of the things I want to do. And that when I do have some time, I choose to do things that I'm familiar with that don't take a lot of effort.
🤹 I have too many things to do
Next to my mandatory daily activities there is a ton of other stuff I want to do — I want to keep up with my friends on Instagram, binche that new Netflix serie, play that videogame that just came out, work on this killer idea I have for an app.
How am I going to do all these things on top of my already busy schedule and still reach my goals? I can't.
That's why I need to evaluate my daily schedule, get rid of the time-wasting items and block time for the things I want to focus on.
🎭 It’s not good enough
When I start with something new – like starting a newsletter – and it's about 80% done, I start doubting myself; "Is this writing good enough? Is the subject interesting? Will people like it? Other people are so much better at this. I'm a fraud!"
If this sounds familiar to you, then you might be suffering from Imposter Syndrome. And you are not alone. A lot of skilled people I know needlessly struggle with this.
Take a look around — Do you really think that all of these people doing all these cool things are that much better than you? Unlikely. Give yourself some credit, you're probably way better than you think you are.
Next time you're doubting yourself, remember this quote by Steve Jobs.
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you.
——
Just do it!
I can come up with a dozen more excuses why I haven’t reached my goals, but none of them will hold any water. The simple truth — If I really want to reach my goals I have to commit to them and just start doing them!
So here I go, my first newsletter. I wrote it in one go. I don't know if it's good. I don't know if I will write one every week. I guess we'll know around this time next year.
Stay tuned! ;)
Dennis Kramer
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