Every Winner Made a Decision to Get Started

“The only thing that stands between you and grand success in living are these two things: getting started and never quitting!”—Robert H. Schuller

Many great stories of success started with a very humble beginning. And one of those stories is the story of Sir Richard Branson; a teenager who dropped out of high-school due to a learning disability to start a business. 

After many years out of school, the hopeless-seeming dyslexic has surmounted huge odds to become one of the most flamboyant entrepreneurs of our time. 

Branson is a classic prove of the truth that, whatever may be our current circumstances, our destiny is ultimately shaped by the kind of choice we make: either to go forward and blaze a trail or to drawback and conform to mediocrity.

As narrated in his book ‘Losing my Virginity,’ Richard shows us a powerful example and meaning of resourcefulness. He does a lot with little resources; he uses his adversity as an advantage and he creates a profitable opportunity out of a vexing trouble. 

He did it all by getting good at one thing that many people feared the most: he knew how to get started, despite lack of experience, money and power. He never allowed fear of rejection, fear of failure and fear of the unknown to keep him from taking a step towards the realization of his big dreams.

Sir Richard Branson definitely deserves his fame. He has made good things happen. Today, it is your turn. So…

Get on and Do It Now

To be a winner, the trick is to get started now. And to do that, you don’t need to have everything perfectly in place. What you need to start is drive, determination, passion and work ethic. 

You can surprise the world with amazing success if you decide to take complete possession of your own mind to make the most of the present moment, as Branson said: “Successful entrepreneurs don't wait for the perfect moment - they create it.”

We need to make an attempt to have any real chance at success; if all we do is theorize and hypothesize without concrete action towards a goal that we want, we will never achieve anything of merit. 

Therefore, enough is enough with analysis paralysis—if you have a dream—now is the time to plunge ahead with action. Even with all the constraints that you may still want to sort out, you can make steady progress if you decide to do something with what you have at the moment. 

On this, the internet billionaire and the Co-founder of Dropbox, Andrew Houston has something to say: “If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it.” And he counsels right in concluding that: “What you should be doing is getting started.” 

There is no better way of gaining mastery on any subject than doing the work. However, if we delay taking action, doing what we can with what’s available, we will actually be denying ourselves not only an opportunity of practical knowledge but also a chance of a great success story down the line. So we will do well by remembering this nugget, every time we are tempted to tarry.