how could i not
Seth Godin's blog post today starts with a question from someone he refers to as JK, who asks: "It's like, how does anyone start their own business? How is it even possible? How do they deal with the crippling fear and harsh economic realities?"
JK is right: it seems impossible. Like a mountain the top of which cannot even be seen. I struggle every day to keep myself motivated, to stop myself from getting stuck on what JK has so succinctly summed up as crippling fear and harsh economic reality.
For as long as I've been trying to build this business, but even as a child, I would look at huge buildings, or large projects, or giant companies, or large scale festivals and wonder: how did each little step ever come together? The funding or builders or permits or performers or grants or planning or details...how on earth did all of these things come together into such a large cohesive event or program or organization? To me, this is what JK is saying. He is saying that considering how things look in the end, it is incomprehensible that someone could choose to start. The answer, of course, is that they come together in tiny, small, insignificant steps that eventually add up to something. In painfully slow increments, beautiful and complex things can be made.
Among other words of wisdom, Seth Godin's answer to JK at the end of the post says something that is very true, of me at least. He says: "[we] do it because we have no real choice in the matter. The voice in our heads won't shut up until we discover if we're right, if we can do it, if we can make something happen. This is an art, our art, and to leave it bottled up is a crime. I guess the real question, JK, is, "How can you not do it?""
The voice in my head most certainly won't shut up. Until it does, here I'll be. Taking one tiny step at a time, doing my best to balance crippling fear with unbridled optimism.
JK is right: it seems impossible. Like a mountain the top of which cannot even be seen. I struggle every day to keep myself motivated, to stop myself from getting stuck on what JK has so succinctly summed up as crippling fear and harsh economic reality.
For as long as I've been trying to build this business, but even as a child, I would look at huge buildings, or large projects, or giant companies, or large scale festivals and wonder: how did each little step ever come together? The funding or builders or permits or performers or grants or planning or details...how on earth did all of these things come together into such a large cohesive event or program or organization? To me, this is what JK is saying. He is saying that considering how things look in the end, it is incomprehensible that someone could choose to start. The answer, of course, is that they come together in tiny, small, insignificant steps that eventually add up to something. In painfully slow increments, beautiful and complex things can be made.
Among other words of wisdom, Seth Godin's answer to JK at the end of the post says something that is very true, of me at least. He says: "[we] do it because we have no real choice in the matter. The voice in our heads won't shut up until we discover if we're right, if we can do it, if we can make something happen. This is an art, our art, and to leave it bottled up is a crime. I guess the real question, JK, is, "How can you not do it?""
The voice in my head most certainly won't shut up. Until it does, here I'll be. Taking one tiny step at a time, doing my best to balance crippling fear with unbridled optimism.
