“Start Before You’re Ready” is a book written by Mick Spencer.
The book offers entrepreneurs a new roadmap to success that encourages taking action before feeling completely “ready” for the steps ahead. The book emphasizes overcoming analysis paralysis, taking risks, and pursuing goals with enthusiasm.
Trust that the dots will connect
If you accept yourself for who you are and what you have, everything will start to fall into place. Believing in yourself means knowing that you have what it takes to make anything happen. It starts with loving yourself. Finding your purpose will help you uncover the reason you’re here in this world, and remember, your purpose comes from the heart.
Build your confidence in your abilities by completing tasks and projects that are outside of your comfort zone. Remember that the ‘sweet spot’ is the intersection of what you love, what you’re great at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. The more passion you execute on, the closer you’ll come to the right opportunities.
The 4 Ps philosophy
Live each day deliberately by balancing your life around the 4 Ps: purpose, people, planet, and profit. Your purpose is your why; make sure it’s ingrained in your values. Be conscious of who you spend time with by making sure the people you spend the most time with are helping you to learn, grow, and power ahead.
A strong connection to nature will restore your wellbeing and help you know what’s truly important. You need money to survive, but accumulating wealth and knowledge is also about giving back to others and to society as a whole. Make sure you know what’s okay to sacrifice and what isn’t to create the perfect balance.
Give life your all
When you get up in the morning and start the day, always remind yourself that if you screw up this day, you’ll never get an opportunity to relive it. You’ll encounter tough times—possibly financially or even health-wise. If your livelihood is on the line through no fault of your own, stay humble and work hard and smart.
Value relationships, especially those with your family. You don’t have to come close to dying to reconsider life and relook at how you spend your days, as I did. So try to live your life fully now. Take advantage of the talent around you to make your life more efficient. There are so many tasks that can be outsourced, freeing up your time to do the things you’re best at.
Making every moment count
Learning is not only challenging, engaging, and fun —it’s also empowering and humbling, so try to learn something new every day. Habits such as spending time with your family and in nature will keep you grounded and happy. A strict, regular sleep routine is a must if you want to stay on top of your game.
Being deliberate with each hour of your day will prevent you from losing precious time. Remember: time competes with itself. Putting healthy pressure on yourself will give you direction and help you achieve your goals.
The power of less
- Understand the difference between wants and needs
- Simplify your life by focusing on what you really need, and making small sacrifices
- Spend less and save more.
- Use good debt to generate income and increase net worth, and avoid bad debt
- Short-term investing generates income, while long-term investing generates wealth
- Seek mentorship to gain a new perspective and learn from others’ experiences
- Be a team player and support others professionally and personally
- Clear mentoring guidelines help hold you accountable and stay on track
Be bold about your personal vision
Never stop promoting yourself or your brand: be positive about what you’re doing and share it with the world with passion and energy, but not in a boastful way. Being coachable is about listening to feedback, even when you haven’t asked for it. Be grateful for what this teaches you, and don’t be offended or upset.
Believe passionately in what you’re doing and follow your vision wholeheartedly. If you don’t feel you can do that, move on to something that you can get behind 100 percent. Change things up regularly, and see change as a good thing. Even small changes can make a big difference if you want to grow and evolve. Learn to network — a lot of the time, it’s not what you know but who you know.
Keys to Success: Hard-hitting truths
- Face hard truths and fears
- Focus on being informed, selective, open, determined, committed, and always learning
- Build a supportive network
- Set expectations early for hard conversations
- Listen and find win-win solutions in sales and negotiations
- Embrace rejection and learn from it
- Overcome imposter syndrome by focusing on achievements and setting new goals
- Don’t get caught up in small things, keep focus on the bigger picture.
