I am so guilty of this that I laughed once I learned that there’s a specific term for it. How often have we caught ourselves saying, “I’ll work on my idea after I learn this skill” or “Let me master this skill first before I participate in this project” or etc.? This mentality is a trap. Many of us may have heard the term “knowledge is power”, but this isn’t exactly spot-on. The more accurate term is “Knowledge is potential power”. Well, what’s the difference? Short answer: the usage of that knowledge. If we are constantly learning a new skill but refuse to actively apply it in a meaningful way our fear of not knowing enough, then the knowledge loses its potential power. That’s when we need ways to overcome Analysis Paralysis.
Yes, we refuse to START something because we want to master a skill before we actually do it. Said out loud, it sounds illogical, but most of that stems from fear. Fear of what? Mistakes and failure. Nobody likes to mess up. It’s humiliating and frustrating and I’m going to learn all that I can so that I can avoid those mistakes altogether and…hold on! As much as it may suck, we need to learn to embrace the struggles of a learning curve. Why? Because it’s through those mistakes when we actually learn ways to overcome Analysis Paralysis.
This blog has been updated with an affiliate link. This means that, at no extra cost to you, if you so choose to participate in some of the learning opportunities here, we at Kyrabe Stories may receive a commission as gratitude from the partnering companies. Thank you sincerely for your support and for your desire to learn and grow! I hope you enjoy the blog!
It’s not a matter of IF we’ll make a mistake. It’s WHEN we’ll make a mistake. The faster we learn this, the less scarier it becomes. As frustrating as it was for me to accept this, I have learned a lot more by doing, and I missed out on countless opportunities because I was afraid that I either didn’t know enough or just wasn’t good enough. In an earlier blog, Successful Mistakes, I shared how I ended up with stage fright in front of the whole school body during our closing song of encouragement (check out the link if you’re curious about that embarrassing tale).
Long story short though, I’ve had to try and fail, try harder and fail again, and try more times before I became comfortable with performing in front of someone. Even today, I still get flustered at karaoke, but because I love to sing, I push myself onto the stage and normally after the first few verses, I forget about my worries and just enjoy the music! It’ll be like that for almost everything that we’re afraid to fail at, but it’s all a part of that learning process.
We did not pop out of our mother’s womb knowing how to run and give victory speeches about our epic escape to this new world. We had to take it (quite literally) step by step and learn by correcting every misstep along the way. At first, we began by talking crazy gibberish by observing the language around us, then learned to match the words to their actual meaning (instead of just calling every living creature a “cow”).
As children, we had to learn everything through mistakes that formed into experience. At what point in our lives did we stop focusing on the end goal to worry about the challenges that glare menacingly along the path?
Learn through experience, and don’t be afraid to ask for help along the way from someone with more experience than you! We don’t have to reinvent the wheel and start everything from scratch by ourselves! Please leave a comment below if you know of any successful individual who made it to where they are today by depending on only themselves and no one else: no mentors, no advisers, no supportive family or friends, just a one person parade. Although it may seem that way from a looking glass, chances are high that they had someone guiding them through their learning experiences too.
Trust me when I say that one of the most difficult parts of pursuing a goal is taking that first step to actually begin the journey. The second hardest is staying on that course! For example, I started blogging on January 2nd, 2019, although I’ve been writing over a decade prior. I had been participating in a blogging group since October 2018 and kept telling myself that I would start the darn blog…when I’m ready.
December came and went, and on New Year’s Eve while Stevenn and I were at a party getting ready to do the count down, the resolution that kept pounding my mind was, “Start that freakin’ blog!” January 1st came, and instead of just registering for my domain, I took myself to LinkedIn Learning, began watching a tutorial about WordPress, and told myself that I would start once I knew enough on how to use WordPress…
I cannot stress enough how much I mentally beat myself up for falling for this trap again! The next morning, I sat myself down and bought the darn domain and host! I named the website and opened WordPress for the first time under our official Kyrabe Stories web-page! I was proud!!! At least I was for about 15 minutes. I was back to not knowing what the flip to do with this site! I’ve never used WordPress before! How do I set everything up!? How do I design my website!?
After about three hours of trying to figure out this new platform (and accidentally losing some of my progress due to some careless actions), I literally got up, grabbed one of my cats for sadly defeated cuddles, and went back to bed. There were multiple moments where I felt like I was in over my head in thinking I could create a motivational blog by myself. At that moment, I felt like I didn’t know enough, so therefore I couldn’t do it.
When I woke up, I decided to reach out to some of the folks in the Facebook blogging group. Many more experienced bloggers provided advanced advice that seemed out of my reach (I’m new, darn it! I don’t know the first thing about “optimization”!). Then I noticed one that seemed doable. In short, she told me to just focus on one blog at a time and that the rest of the stuff will fall into place later.
Yeah, I should be learning what I can about Content Marketing, Network Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Sponsorship, Search Engine Optimization, etc.,etc., etc. (see why I started getting flustered?) but I don’t have to learn all of this stuff in a few weeks or even within a few months! To start off, I just need to focus on creating valuable content, one blog at a time! The rest I can learn at my own pace along the way!
Most of the blogs that are currently on the website have been tweaked and updated multiple times already! Some I’ve added affiliate links to. Others I’ve experimented with promoting on social media. It’s all a trial and error loop, but it all begins with that first step. Start now, tweak later. Learn along the way. Grow over time.
Have you ever been given an assignment at the beginning of a course then panicked the week it was due? You completed it though, right (hopefully)? Chances are, our concerns weren’t about having the best research paper or presentation ready. At that point, we just wanted SOMETHING to show to avoid either getting a zero or getting yelled at!
For this one, we may have to ask someone we trust to hold us to our word. For example, I have become addicted to reading this manga called “Skip Beat”, so much so that I might forget to do something for either our blog, our YouTube vlog, or our upcoming courses on Teachable.com (I’ll send out notifications about this one. Subscribe to the newsletter to learn more once it goes live). I now have gotten Stevenn to hold my current volume release until I accomplish certain tasks, then I’m only allowed to read a chapter or two (or for a certain time frame) before I need to hand the book over and begin working again! It’s frustrating, but it motivates me to get work done just so I can read my manga! It’s my reward for being productive!
At work, there’s a poster I love that states, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin.
No matter which dream you are desiring to pursue, get involved with a community that is striving for a common goal. Interested in opening your own carpentry business? Join a few workshops and some business/marketing events. Interested in starting a blog or a writing career? There are social media groups who share tips and encourage others to post their progress.
Whatever your aspirations are, it really does help to pursue it with friends. Just remember not to get discouraged if someone is doing something better than you. It may just be that they’ve either been doing it longer than you or just picked it up a little faster. Embrace that the people who are better than you aren’t all competitors but potential mentors to teach and guide you.
For more information, I highly recommend Todd Dewett’s course “Learning from Failure” on LinkedIn Learning. It’s about 30 minutes of valuable information about using our mistakes to help lead us towards success! If you don’t have an account and would like to try a free trial of LinkedIn Learning, visit https://kyrabestories.com/LinkedInLearning
Every now and then, we will make a partnering vlog to certain blogs! This is one of those cases!
There are many unexplored ways to push ourselves to pursue our dreams. This is just a shortlist of ways that I have learned to push myself. No matter what tutorials, seminars, books, or whatever we find, none of it will be equivalent to hands-on experience. You can do it. We will both continue to mess up. These blogs are motivated by my previous mistakes. Believe me when I say that there will be a lot more to write about in the upcoming years. Turn your mistakes into valuable lessons, and I know that you will succeed.
Have you ever experienced Analysis Paralysis and in what ways did you overcome it? Do you have a friend or loved one that is dealing with it? Please share this blog with them! If you enjoyed the stories and would like to read more, please subscribe to our newsletter!
And remember to just live and learn from one story at a time!
Take care,
Kyndall Bennett from Kyrabe Stories
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I thought this blog post was so timely and full of great advice - shares to my Pinterest board for helpful blog posts.
Thank you! I'm grateful that it was helpful!
And many thanks for the share! It truly helps the blog out a lot! ?
Lots of energy and time go into these blog posts - the least we can do is help fellow bloggers out ?
Analysis Paralysis is such a great term heard it many years back, I know we can all get stuck in it sometimes. Realizing that you have become stuck is more than half the battle. Great post, thanks for sharing ?
Thank you! That's so true. We cannot fix something if we don't even realize that the issue exists.
This is the curse of a driven perfectionist! It takes a lot to sort out and break away from this mindset, but I love and agree with the tips you have above...start now, tweak later ~ find a like-minded group for support ~ deadlines and rewards. Yup - they do work, but still hard to get the ball rolling.
Oh yeah, it's definitely hard! I still fear making mistakes all the time. It truly does take a lot of persistence to keep going. ❤
So much truth!!! Blogging has brought this out in me in the WORST way sometimes...there's SO MANY THINGS to know and spend time learning and doing that I get overwhelmed and walk away sometimes. But then other times, it IS empowering to tackle something new and learn as I go.
Same here! I remember my first month of blogging, I wanted to cry after seeing what all I still needed to learn! It can feel overwhelming to not know where to start. I think one of the best tips someone gave me was to just focus on completing one blog at a time and the rest will be learned over time. It helped give me a focus point that I can control as I gradually improve on other things.
That's great. I didn't know there was a term for it either. I always get to the point where I just jump in.
That's good to have those "jump in" moments. Starting is usually the hardest part, so you've already gotten a strong boost!
Interesting post. I’ve never heard of this term. Certainly a growth mindset is helpful.
Thank you, Annette! I'm glad that this was a learning opportunity!
I can definitely relate! I’ve been guilty of studying something...and studying...and studying...rather than taking action. I’ve learned that life loves a body in motion. As I take action new opportunities and lessons arrive. I love it.
So true! I still have to catch myself from falling into that loop. Mistakes are just learning opportunities that'll make us better later on!
I suffered from this when I was thinking about starting my blog. I researched and researched for months, until I finally set due dates. I love your post, I can surely relate!
Thank you and same here! I kept trying to watch tutorials for WordPress until one day I just said, "Screw it! I'll push buttons and figure it out later!" ? I only lost my pages twice, but other than that, the learning curve became easier...
I get Analysis Paralysis when writing most of my blog posts - I just start and write down thoughts and then go back to it later.
It's good that you still at least write down your thoughts, Judean. I set up spontaneous sessions where I'll write a disastrous draft without an organized outline (I know, my English Comp professors would probably have a fit). The sections that you may see in the finished blogs here started out as just random thoughts in a cluttered mess where I would somewhat "rant" out paragraphs under possible header topics. Later, I'll open up a clean blank document and copy/paste the content into a more organized format, then tweak the grammar. This helps me get my chaotic thoughts at least out of my brain and onto a saved file/notebook.
Oh! Now I can diagnose my husband, thanks! ;)
? Lol! I wish you the best, Katie! I hope it works!