Rule #1: You Just Gotta Do It

That feeling when you have no idea how to do something; when you don’t even know how to start doing it. But it’s sitting there in front of you, it needs to be done — your business relies on it. So you sit staring at the display on your laptop. And, the more you ask Google about it, the more it appears that nobody has ever faced this particular issue before. Looking at the clock on your laptop, time keeps moving. This needs to be done, now, all the while, your brain wondering, “How the [insert intensifier of choice here] do I do this?” 

I’ve faced this exact issue more times than I can count and the way to get through it is actually pretty simple: you just gotta do it. 

As much as I’d like to take credit for the words, I can’t. While the exact details of its origins are somewhat fuzzy due to a bottle of grappa at 3am in one of Bellagio’s back alleys in Northern Italy, I asked a friend of mine how he was able to do things that he had no idea how to do. By the way, this friend of mine? He’s founded a few companies and, while he wouldn’t say that these companies have been successful, he owns four houses. ‘Nuff said. Anyway, his response to my question? Those words. 

And he’s right. 

You just gotta do it, you just need to solve the problem. 

“But I don’t know how to do it, I don’t even know the first steps to take!” 

Let’s talk about that. 

Of course we’re uncertain, that’s why we get stuck in the first place. The good news is that, the more we work and solve these types of issues, the more solving them becomes part of your DNA. And, at some point, we realize that uncertainty has absolutely zero to do with the actual issue; it’s very much a non-factor. 

For example, let’s say that you want to change out a light switch, but you have no idea how to do it — your experience with electricity extends only to turning things on and off. But, this switch needs to be replaced. So, you go to YouTube or TikTok, watch a few how-to videos and get to work. 

One thing about electricity is that it shows no favoritism to how we feel. If things are wired correctly, the light will turn on. If they’re not, we’ll hear a pop as the breakers (hopefully) do their job. It doesn’t care how confident or uncertain we are, it flows to the light or it doesn’t. The same is true with anything we face in business. 

I’ll write more about this in a later article because there have been some interesting studies on the topic, but the takeaway for now is this: dismiss the uncertainty, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue that you’re working on. Uncertainty is fine — it’s completely normal — but it’s about as relevant to your problem as someone in Canada suddenly discovering that they love Vegemite…unless you’re in the business of selling Vegemite to Canadians, which presents an entirely different problem. 

The key is that we just gotta do it; we need to do what it takes to get from problem to resolution. Sometimes it’s as easy as measuring something against our brand ideals, and sometimes it takes a bit more legwork. The important thing is that we get moving. And the fact that we don’t know how to do it? Ok, and that matters, how? 

Keep grinding.