It Starts with Passion, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 40The first domino

You may have seen a domino show on TV, where a vast and complex arrangement of dominoes has been laboriously set up, normally in a shopping centre, in anticipation of the great moment when someone pushes the first domino, setting off a massive chain reaction of falling dominos.

This chapter is devoted to determining your first domino — that first action that will create momentum in your life. I really appreciate your reading this book, but the real value of the ideas, concepts and philosophies it contains can only be truly realised if you do something with these insights.

It can be so easy to believe our own story — I am too busy now; I’ll just wait until things settle down before I start; I need more information; I need to gain the support of a few friends before I launch; I need to get a nest egg together before I can really get into it.

Everything we do or don’t do has a cost. I like Seth Godin’s take on this, though …

‘The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.’

How often do we not do something because of the fear of being wrong? At what stage in our life did we come to accept the idea that we need to be perfect at everything we do? That we need to achieve our goals without failure, without facing challenges and with everything going to plan?

In the real world, sometimes we need to be wrong — not deterred, just wrong. We need to take risks, put ourselves out there, live on the edge and try things that we will not master ...