On a business cruise, we all had an opportunity to do a 30-second pitch on the final day.
The final day comes, Sam gets up on stage to do his 30-second pitch. He’s a little nervous. And after the first sentence comes out of his mouth…
Nothing.
His mind goes blank.
He restarts and gets a few more words out. Then his time is up.
We were talking after and he mentioned how much he prepared. How he was clear on his message, but it just didn’t come out on stage.
And that to me makes it a “win.” Fortunately for him, he took it as a win as well.
Because it’s not about how well he did in a 30-second pitch. He’ll have PLENTY more opportunities to share his message.
It was having to DO the pitch that compelled him to really think about his message. So now he’s stepping off the cruise with newfound clarity.
But imagine this…
What if he chose not to do the 30-second pitch? Would Sam have taken the time to hone in on his message?
I know for myself, the 30-second pitch compelled me to tell my story in a new way. That never would have happened without FIRST committing to do the pitch (and the cruise overall).
I see many people sitting around waiting for clarity to come. They think…
“I’ll start *after* I know what I want to do.”
That’s what I told myself several years ago. And I was depressed because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
I told myself, “I study personal development… I should have this all figured out.”
What I found is clarity came only AFTER committing to doing something.
With my book Break Through Your BS, it started as a completely different concept. It was originally about self-help myths.
Even though the idea wasn’t fully fleshed out, I gave myself a deadline to get the book done. That “forced” me to get started.
Then more and more ideas came to me. Then my direction shifted. And I was able to write something else that is far better than what I could have dreamed up if I only sat around thinking about it.
So if you’re not sure what direction you want to go in, just commit to taking one step.
If it’s the ‘wrong’ step, you’ll gain insight and course correct.
If it’s the ‘right’ step, you’ll gain insight and stay the course.
Either way, you gain clarity.
But commit to nothing, and you’d forever be lost in “thinking about it” land.
