Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Do It In Bits, Do It Afraid





I first heard this phrase; ‘Do it afraid in one of Betty Irabor's famous Morning Dew column in her award winning magazine, Genevieve. I remember been struck by the first and last words; do and afraid. Meaning whatever it is, do it anyway regardless of the fear you feel.

This phrase is even now made more popular and is currently trending across social media in Nigeria thanks to Omilola Oshikoya, one of Africa's foremost finance coach and my personal coach too (*coughs* Amen!). But I like how Mrs Evelyn Femi-Paul, a foremost Image Consultant and MD, Image Pro Consulting also puts it. She says,

"Do it shaking until you shake no more"

Listen up. No professional or expert that you know today got it right from the start. They first started as amateurs in their fields and then progressed from one level of proficiency to another till they became the experts and thought leaders in their various industries.
 

When I was going to start this blog, I wanted all the conditions to be perfect. The right and posh device to use, perfect layout, I had seen quite a number of blogs and there were a few I wanted my blog to look like, I wanted a registered domain and website even. But guess what? Everytime I tried to pay to get these things, a more pressing and urgent need will come up that will make setting money aside for the blog thing look like a misplacement of priorities. Another thing that held me back was the fear of rejection. Yes I said that and permit me to be vulnerable with you. I thought to myself,

"What if people don't like what I write?"

" What if I run out of what to write?"

So many ‘what ifs’. Then one day I decided I wouldn't let anything hold me back anymore. I'll do it shaking, here a little, there a little, fail forward, dust myself, get back up and try again. I'll keep writing whether there are comments or not. Will keep writing as long as the thoughts keep roaming on my mind. Some have asked if I'm making money from this. Well, not yet but still I'll keep writing.

So it's 1st of March and you're wondering how two months have gone by already and you appear not to have been able to mark check on any of the things you set out to do this year. Maybe you're already thinking of giving up and settling to having an ordinary year like the previous ones. Or you may even have started but things are not yet looking like you would want them to and you are already thinking there's no point going on, what with the current state of the economy and all. Or you started but started poorly, you didn't quite hit the ground running well enough. Be glad that at least you took the first step.

For some, the sheer size of the task seems to be what is even holding you back. Each time you think about how big the task ahead is or how much ground you have to cover, you get tired even before you start. My advice to you is to break it down into small, manageable bits within realistic time frame. That's basically Project Management in simplest terms.
 

Do it in bits. Do it afraid. Do it shaking till you shake no more. Don't wait till all the conditions are perfect. The beauty of the building may not be fully appreciated when still in progress until it is finished but that does not stop the building from being built. No matter how tantalizing the aroma of a meal is, you still have to wait till it is done before you can eat it but that doesn't stop you from cooking the food anyway. Two months may have passed without you doing or achieving anything but you still have nine months to catch up. Brace up and like Nike says,

Just Do It!

May March be good to you.
 
 
 

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