Why "just start" is literally the best advice ever

This is embarrassing…

There is a document on my computer titled "what business should I start."

I knew I wanted to start something, but wasn't quite sure what it was. So I wrote down some thoughts, market figures, assessments of my skills relative to the opportunity, hurdles, etc.

On paper, maybe to some this sounds smart. It is always good to start with a plan, to go into something with eyes wide open. Do the analysis first, then you can decide if its worth the risk.

Fine approach at Wharton. But this is the real world.

Now don't get me wrong, I have deep respect for the people of Wharton, though I do not think there is much of a case for getting an MBA in the first place, which I have written about before.

There is a story of Thomas Edison, true or not I do not know. He had a young man come work for him fresh out of school. Very intelligent, very highly degreed. Edison, looking to teach his man a lesson, asked him to come up with the volume of the inside of one of his light bulbs.

After hours of calculations, the young man had an answer, that was almost perfect. To check the calculations accuracy, Edison broke the bottom cap of the light bulb off and filled the glass with water, yielding an immediate precise volume.

The point of this is practicality. In the world of business, practicality wins. Not theory. Experience. Feedback.

Back to my source of embarrassment, when I finally started trying to start a company, what do you think happened? A lot of preparing. A lot of asking for advice. Not a lot of doing.

But you are not going to get strong and in shape by reading about pushups.

Which is why, "Just start" is literally the best advice ever.

Its so easy to compare a starting point, our chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 10 or 37. But I guarantee that they started at chapter 1 just like you and just like me.

There lie two great freedoms in this approach. First, going into it knowing you will and should be embarrassed when you look back. And I don't mean that you let the judgements of other people negatively impacts you, but that you realize how much you have learned in a condensed amount of time and cant believe how far you have come. So you can give yourself permission from the start to be terrible. Ask insanely basic questions. Be naïve.

The second is you will learn faster than any advice or guidance, or pontification, or reading, or thinking will give you.

If you wanted to paint something and spent 10 hours discussing with friends and advisors what you should paint, because you want it to be excellent, what are you giving up? Time learning and gaining feedback.

If instead, you spent 10 hours painting, you could either be 10 hours ahead or do some smaller "faster" pieces and get them in front of thousands of eyeballs. And then get feedback from the market. It is the same principles behind MVPs in product development.

It hard to be sure, but very simple. Just as with most things worth doing. Simple, not easy.

But if you are looking to start a podcast, literally plug your headphones in, call someone through Anchor, and start talking. If you want to start a business, just start it. You don't need a business plan, an incorporation, just go. Sell some version of the thing you want to sell. If you want to plant a garden, don't research it, go to Home Depot, buy some tools, dirt, and flowers and give it a try.

You will learn as you go and be on the path to achieving far more than would be possible if you just thought about it.