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.
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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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View Comments
This makes some great points. I have been stuck in this pattern many times. I try really hard to do it, but sometimes it can't be helped. Thanks for sharing.
It's certainly not an easy pattern to break. The fact that you're trying to adjust, even by a little, today will still greatly help in the long run! Baby steps, Heather! ?
WOW! I really need my husband to read this post. He is all about learning more and more skills but never fully putting any of them to use. He is a jack of all trades at this point but never fully gets to focus on any of the skill sets. Sometimes you just have to go all in to realize is it something for you or not.
Your husband reminds me of my fiance! I find that workshops really help. It'll allow him to share his interests with others and to obtain more hands-on experience to put to use his new knowledge! Then from there, he can choose whether it's more of a hobby or if he wishes to pursue that skill professionally!
I get stuck on this pattern!
You're not alone, Tracy! To be honest, I still catch myself falling into this trap every now and then! A check-point list has helped significantly. I create very small goals like 15 blogs posted, 50,100,200,500 followers on different social media platforms, 10 videos on YouTube, etc. Whenever I reach a check-point, I check it off and add the date. That way, whenever I'm discouraged because I'm not making any progress, I look at the check-point list. Small progress is still progress!
Yep - this is me!!! These are great tips to overcoming it. I love the reward idea!
No problem, Brittany! Thank you for reading!
Start now, tweak later!! YESSSS! Love this!
? I use this exercise a lot for my blog posts. I still need to learn how to activate the "read more" function so that all of the typos aren't permanently documented in the newsletters!
So true!!! Oh my goodness, I totally have this affliction. And cats are the best when you need some pick-me-up-from-defeat cuddles. Thanks for actionable tips for making stuff happen!
Thank you for checking out the blog, Malia! Yeah, as much as my cats can be little touch-me-nots, they are more tolerable of me whenever I'm feeling emotional.?
Loved your post! Thanks for the encouragement to get over my mental block!
Thank you, Lisa! You are not alone in this! ❤
Spot on! I know a few who are a jack of all trades & master of none for sure!
? My fiance is like that! It's quick to learn new skills, but I think he's still figuring out what he would actually be passionate at doing!
Trying and failng is by far the best way to learn! Bravo.
Thank you, Lora! I just wish I learned this lesson YEARS ago!
I am with you 100% on this one! I definitely relate.
Thank you, Joanne! ❤