Last week while sitting in my living room and watching the last episode of the Harry Potter series, I heard a really loud “whoosh” sound in my back yard.
It sounded really weird, so I jumped out of my seat to investigate.
When I got outside, I saw that both of my dogs were staring off in the same direction, so I looked in that direction as well.
What I saw was rather bizarre.
A huge tree had fallen on my property and hit my fence on two sides.
This tree was massive!
Luckily nobody was hurt, it wasn’t near the house, and didn’t hit any power lines or anything like that, but it did damage my fence.
Here’s a short video clip I shot the following morning, showing the fallen tree and the damage to the fence.
Now, when this happened, it would have been easy to get frustrated and overwhelmed by the situation.
I had to find a quick solution to this challenge, as one of my dogs likes to escape, so a broken fence means that I couldn’t have my dogs out in the yard unsupervised.
Instead of panicking and getting stressed out, the following morning I just decided to deal with the situation one step at a time.
I had NO IDEA how I was going to fix the fence, how or when I’d get it done, and how long it was going to take.
I had no idea what I was going to do with the dogs if this was something that might take a week to fix.
I didn’t even think about those things.
Instead, I just focused on taking the first step, which was simply to put on my gear for when I go outside to do landscaping work, grab my chainsaw and go out there and see what I could do.
Once I got out there and looked at the tree more closely and how it fell, and assessed the surrounding area for any dangers like possible large broken branches that hadn’t fallen yet, etc. I started looking at what the first step would be.
The way the tree fell, the top part of the tree landed on the outside of my fence line, so I went out there and my ONLY concern was how to go about making the first cut with the chainsaw.
I saw that the first thing I needed to cut was to cut off some of the branches that were sticking out, so that’s what I did.
Once I cut some of the branches, my next step was to find the best place to make my first cut in the actual tree. So I did that and I made my first cut.
Once I got that done, I looked for the second cut.
Then the next.
Then the next.
Then the next.
Then the next.
And pretty soon I had the whole tree cut up into smaller pieces.
Now, up until this point I had NO IDEA how I’m going to move those pieces, or where I was going to move them to, or how I was going to go about fixing the fence.
I didn’t even think about those things.
I just focused on what was in front of me… the task at hand.
Fast forward about 8 hours later and with the help of my friend Jabeel, my chainsaw and my utility tractor, I had the tree cut up, moved out of the way and the fence fully fixed.
It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t allow the situation to overwhelm me.
Now, what the heck does any of this have to do with starting a business?
Well, EVERYTHING.
You see, one of the challenges that I see people running into when they try to start a new business or even when they launch a blog or an online business, is that they instantly get overwhelmed!
They get so stressed out, frustrated and overwhelmed with all the things they have to do, that they just give up and become completely paralyzed.
The reason why most people get frustrated and overwhelmed is because they try to solve every challenge, every problem, and every detail of the situation in their MIND before even getting started!
You don’t need to do that!
Instead, try simply taking the next step that you can see in front of you, and once you get there, you’ll see further!
For example, sometimes people ask me about how to make money blogging…
… and they’re talking to me about some potential challenge or question they have about some advanced step that they might or might not even have to take 6 months or 12 months down the line with their Blogging business, and at the same time they haven’t even taken the FIRST STEP towards starting their blog.
It’s like they’re trying to figure out EVERYTHING, before taking one step forward.
Building a business in 2015 just doesn’t work that way.
You can’t see 5 or 10 years into the future anymore like you used to be able to in the 1950’s.
5 or 10 year business plans are a joke, even among some of the largest corporations in the world.
Forget about trying to solve every problem before it’s even an issue.
Instead, just take the FIRST STEP towards your business goals.
Once you take that first step, the next step will present itself and then take that one as well.
People ask me “Paul, how the heck do you write hundreds of Blog posts like that?!”
The truth is that I really don’t know. I have no idea how to write hundreds of blog posts.
I never think of it that way.
I only think about writing ONE blog post.
And even then, I just think about the next sentence that I’m going to write. Once I write that sentence, I then worry about the next one.
And he next.
See my point?
Writing 100 blog posts or 1,000 blog posts seems WAY to hard and overwhelming.
That’s why I never think of it that way.
I just think about the next step in front of me, and that’s it.
I can figure out the rest when I get there!
THAT is how you build your business without getting overwhelmed.
What’s the next step in YOUR business? Just take that step. Don’t worry about what comes after that.
Have you started a Blog yet?
If not, why not?
Still not sure what the whole plan is? How it all fits together? How you’re going to do everything?
You don’t need to know all that.
All you need to know is the next step.
Think of the next step in your business and go get that done.
If your next step is to get started with a Blog, I recommend clicking here to get started.
Desmond Soon says
Very good blog and Video to explain about how to stay calm and not get overwhelmed.
Damn Dude You have a Massive Back yard…and HOLY SHIT that was a HUGE Tree that came down!!!! That wasn’t during the wind storm we just had was it? I mean That tree looks like it was cut down!!!! Phew luckily it didn’t hit anything vital. Yeah for sure to see that would be like “oh shit where do I start” but very well handled. Good to see you put Jabeel to work too…
Great Blog.
Paul Piotrowski says
Thanks. Yes, my back yard is 5.5 acres. Not all of it is fenced it, but I love the space. There’s lots of landscaping work I need to get done, but I enjoy taking a break from sitting in front of my computer once in a while and just going out there to tear stuff up. 🙂
Thomas W. says
Wow that’s a big tree! There’s enough firewood for a year! 😉
It seems like you approached the situation with a playful attitude. That’s when we get the most done, since we’re not paralyzed by fear and worry. We’re in the Now. Feel good now! And project that into the future.
Chris Landry says
Hey Paul – Thanks for writing this blog post – Reading it was actually had a calming effect on me. The fact that you had an entire tree fall down and you simply just took the next step in your day in a really calm manner is really inspiring. I just wrote a blog post on completely changing my work environment by buying professional co worker space in Maple Ridge close to where you live. It was sort of intuition / inspiration that made me decide to invest in having a place to work here. I just took the next logical step like you did on that day, I am really glad I took that step because my productivity is skyrocketing and I have entire office to myself so I can work relaxed really late in the evenings. Here is the blog post about it: http://www.chrisjlandry.com/amazing-work-environment/ Thanks for sharing about having the tree collapse. I think like 99% of people would be having a panic attack lol and you just simply took the next logical step and went onwards in your day! Awesome!
Paul Piotrowski says
You’re welcome Chris. 🙂