Y’all, I recently did three things I’d never done before. Two of them are embarrassing to admit because they shouldn’t have felt so daunting, but to me they were!
Anyway, this week my wife, daughter and I moved into our first home…like that we own. And I put together a new crib. And I pruned the rose bushes in the front yard of said home.
Like I said, the crib assembly and bush pruning aren’t very impressive. But I had never done either before. My dad put together my daughter’s first crib, and I’ve never had rose bushes to prune until now.
When facing a new challenge or problem, the first question that comes to mind is “where do I start?” We often don’t have the experience or background knowledge to even know what the first thing is that needs to be done. And that is a terrible, hopeless feeling.
Out of this fear or feelings of inadequacy, we sometimes never attempt to start. We don’t build that business. We don’t tackle that IT issue. We don’t prune that bush.
The First Step to Problem Solving is to Start
It sounds obvious and may also come across as pithy or cheesy, but think about it. In my life, when I’ve been faced with something I don’t know how to do, every time I started to make some attempt to find a solution, I’ve figured it out…eventually. And every time I’ve shied away because of my perception of the difficulty of the task, I haven’t. It’s that simple!
In December, I had no idea what it took to buy a house. I looked at others my age who had bought houses as geniuses and millionaires. How does one just buy a house? How do they even start?
So, without knowing where to start, my wife and I visited a real estate agent to inquire about the process. She referred us to a lender. The lender said we needed to open up a new line of credit. We did and later received several loan options. And we went from there.
In February we made an offer and it was accepted, and we moved into the house in March. So this incredibly intimidating process that I thought we were years and years away from even being able to entertain, turned out to be a three-month, relatively painless experience.
The first step to problem solving is to start.
Starting doesn’t mean things will just fall into place. You may get stuck. Or you may start by doing the wrong thing. But knowing what not to do can be as important as knowing what to do.
When I was trying to put this crib together, I didn’t have any instructions because we got it used from something called BasicRaleighMoms.com or something like that. So, I couldn’t figure out which way the bottom piece went. And I didn’t figure it out until I had screwed it in upside down.
The first step to problem solving is to start.
I remember when I built my first website, I was so overwhelmed by the process. And it was hard. And it wasn’t very good. But I did it. And I’ve built a handful of better sites since.
Just Do It Start
What are the things you wish you could do? What are those problems either at work or home you’re too afraid to tackle head on?
As someone who’s been accused of providing problems instead of solutions when overwhelming or unique challenges arise, I urge you to get out of your own way. Don’t worry about messing up. Don’t focus on what you don’t know how to do. Embrace the uncertainty.
Just start. It’s the first step to solving every problem.
– Seth Crawford, Digital Marketing Strategist