The Art of the Start

There is a book by Guy Kawasaki called The Art of the Start.

And I love that name: “The Art of the Start”.

See, starting something is really an art.

Because  it’s just beautiful.

To start something is to create something that wasn’t being into being.

I think that there are just too many dreams and aspirations that just don’t get the “start” they need and are buried deep in the minds of people.

People think that this is because they are just lazy. But I don’t think that’s it.

Yes, they think they are lazy. But that’s not the real reason.

There are some major factors that stop people from starting something.

So today I want to outline my rules and advice on The Art of the Start.

1. Your biggest enemy is FEAR. The biggest reason why people don’t start something is not because they are lazy, but because they are afraid. Sometimes consciously, but more oftern subconsciously.
   But what you have to understand about fear is that it is useless to you (actually harmful) 99% of the times. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about finding out that 99% of your fear is actually not good for you. It’s stopping you from doing what has the most desirable outcome for you.

   There’s a great quote in the book Who Moved My Cheese that says “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

2. The decision to do something is the start. Starting something doesn’t start at the action. No. Actions come from your intentions. So the decision to fully intend to do something is the real start. Understand this difference. You can’t expect to do something if you don’t have the intention behind it.
3. The start is always the hardest. So just do it. Just do it. Do it. I have 99% of the times been glad to have started something and only 1% of the times regretted it. So if something crosses your mind, just do it. Here is where 90% of the people fall off. My mantra: Do, and then think!
4. Understand momentum. It is faulty to believe that something will remain as difficult to do as time goes by. If you decide to start a blog (like me), then the first three days is very difficult. But then slowly it gets easier. And easier. And easier. Don’t get tired and think ‘I can’t keep this up for the rest of my life. no way.’ because you won’t be. The fact that it will not be this hard is the secret.
5. Lastly, don’t let the fear of failure ever consume you. Always run on the possibility of success. That should always be your driving force.

So good luck to everybody wanting to start something!

Who got yo back?

Blog Challenge – Day 9

I had a very nice surprise today when I arrived at the office and there was a large envelope that had arrived for our team.

When I opened it, there was the certificate that certified the startup I co-founded, LIVEO, had been chosen for the K-Global 300.

This is a program that is run by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and is a selection of the 300 most promising startups in Korea that they intend to strongly support.

The certificate read:

In recognition of its selection as K-Global 300 with outstanding growth potential in the information and technology sector, we hereby present this award to the aforementioned business.

Startups by its very nature have a rule that for every good thing that happens, there is a thousand bad things that happen. I think it’s a mathematical constant alongside the fibonacci series. Just basic physics.

So when the time comes around where I get this type of a great surprise, that means that it is way overdue.

Yes, we had to put up with a million arrows thrown our way to see another good fortune.

But when such good event does come, it makes it all worth it.

Like, the Korean government just sent me a cool note saying: “Yo, fellaz, yall doin’ sumthin’ cool. Keep it up and we gon’ take care of yall. We got ya back.”

And they follow this up with opportunities for grants and such.

Pretty cool stuff. When the government got yo back.