You don’t need another book, another podcast, or another three-month planning phase. You just need to start. Thinking, planning, and perfecting might feel like progress, but until you do something, you’re nowhere. Whether it’s a new business, a product, or a creative project, the first step is action.
But before you take that step, ask yourself: Why? Why this idea? Why now? Are you building something because it will genuinely provide value—to yourself, to others, to the market? Or is it ego-driven? Are you doing it because you love it, or because you want to be seen as the kind of person who does it? Clarity on why you’re doing something is more important than any roadmap, because the details will evolve, the challenges will shift, and the plan will inevitably change. But if your why is solid, you’ll keep moving forward.
Every entrepreneur will tell you that the version of their business in their head versus what actually materialized were two entirely different things. You can’t plan for everything. You shouldn’t plan for everything. The majority of successful businesses and products weren’t the result of meticulous planning but rather the process of doing, adapting, and evolving.
Take PayPal. It started as a completely different company—a security software business for Palm Pilots called Confinity. The original idea? A way to exchange IOUs between devices. But when the company noticed users were sending money via email instead, they scrapped the entire concept and pivoted. That pivot became the foundation for one of the most dominant payment processing platforms in history.
Or look at Slack. Before it became the tool that powers remote work worldwide, it was a failed video game company called Tiny Speck. Stewart Butterfield and his team spent years building a game called Glitch—but despite their best efforts, it flopped. However, in the process of making the game, they had built an internal communication tool to chat and collaborate. That tool turned out to be far more valuable than the game itself, and instead of clinging to the original vision, they scrapped Glitch and turned the chat feature into Slack. Today, it’s worth billions.
The point? Your idea will change. It should change. Your job isn’t to get it perfect before you start—it’s to start, and let the doing shape the outcome. If your why is potent enough, you’ll succeed, not because everything goes to plan, but because you’ll be willing to pivot when it doesn’t.
