Do You Have What It Takes to Start?

The Power of Starting: Overcoming Perfectionism and Procrastination

In this inaugural episode of 'Winning Without College,' host Stuart Takehara, a self-described college dropout and former corporate marketing executive turned entrepreneur, addresses the common hurdles of starting a project.

Emphasizing the importance of overcoming excuses, perfectionism, and the fear of not being ready,

Stuart shares his personal journey of delaying the launch of this very podcast and how he finally decided to take his own advice by just starting, irrespective of the conditions.

He stresses that the initial attempt at anything new will likely be far from perfect but asserts that improvement and mastery only come with continual practice and effort.

Stuart encourages listeners to start whatever project they've been contemplating, regardless of whether it will be shared publicly or perfected, underscoring that the act of starting is a significant step towards eventual success.

This episode serves as both a reflection on Stuart's personal growth journey and a motivational call-to-action for listeners to embark on their own endeavors without further delay.

00:00 Introduction to Winning Without College

00:18 Taking My Own Advice: The Journey Begins

02:04 Overcoming Excuses and Embracing Imperfection

04:30 The Importance of Starting Somewhere

08:03 First Steps and Future Growth

08:23 A Challenge to Just Start

11:05 Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

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Episode Transcript

Stuart (00:01):
And how are you doing?
Welcome to winning without college.
The podcast that helps you getahead in business and in life
all without a college degree.
Uh, my name's Stuart, Takehara your host,your coach and fellow college dropout.
And this is new to me.
This is something that this episodetoday is going to be something special.
Because in this episode, I'mputting my money where my mouth is.

(00:22):
And what does that mean?
There's so many times that wetalk about where do I start?
How do I do this?
You know, this is all abouthow to, how to get ahead.
And the most popular question Ialways get asked is where do I start?
How do I start?
And I always say, you just got to start?
where, where you're at.
You just got to start now.
And, and today this podcast, this episodespecifically, Is me doing exactly that.

(00:48):
And I'm going to explain why it's timethat I take some of my own advice.
Okay.
Because.
The winning without college,it's something that I've been
wanting to do this program.
It's been something I've beenwanting to do for a long time.
As a matter of fact, I wentback and I looked and it's
been like 2016 when I first registered
the domain winning without college.com.

(01:08):
That's how long.
I've been wanting to turn this conceptinto reality, but I was really good
at finding reasons why I couldn't,or I didn't need to, or why I could
just kick the can down the road.
And, you know, we're almost 10 years now.
I was sitting on this idea andnow that I've been traveling.
If you're not familiar with my story.

(01:30):
, I was a corporate marketing executive.
I was my last big boyjob as I like to call.
It was head of marketing for a casinoin the LA Southern California area.
And then,, I went andstarted my own businesses.
I bought and sold businesses.
And I've been traveling on theroad for now over three years.
I'm in my fourth year of full-timetravel first in a big, super CRV.
And now in a sprinter van.

(01:51):
And I've enjoyed it immensely, butit's time to get back to work, right?
It's time to get back out ofthe sabbatical that I was in and
try and start doing something.
And I said, now's the time I needto launch winning without college.
Now's the time.
Where I have everything I need to beable to kind of get this information
out, but here's, here's the problem.

(02:11):
I fell into the same trap that I see alot of people that I work with fall into.
It's, I'm not ready.
I'm not good enough.
I need this.
If I only had a bettermicrophone, if I only had a
better camera, if I only had you.
you.
know, better this or my house is a mess.
I don't have a studio.
I don't have this.
You know, you can create allthese different reasons as to
why we cannot do something.

(02:32):
And it's absolutely insane.
That I found myself in that same trap.
So if you're familiar, this podcastis an audio only podcast, but
we're doing something new today.
This podcast is beingvideo recorded for YouTube.
And there were a lot of reasons whyI didn't want to do a video podcast.
Cause you know, I'm, I'm in myvan now, the places is a disaster.

(02:53):
You know, I thought maybe if I geta green screen or a nice background,
or I cleaned this up a little bit, ormaybe if I find a nice outdoor spot
where I can go out into natureand record came up with all these
excuses as to why I couldn'tactually do a video podcast.
I also came up with thereasons why I couldn't do just
recording an audio podcast.
Cause right now, It's a five o'clockin the afternoon and it is hot, but in

(03:16):
order to get a good,, audio quality, Iended like turn off the air condition and
turn off the fans and close the doors.
And so I'm, I'm trapped in here.
So I remember going through the cycleof, I can't record a podcast today.
It's too hot outside, or I'm going to bakeor it's just not going to be comfortable.
You know, I remember going like, oh, Ididn't get a chance to do my hair today.

(03:37):
Or I need a nicer shirt.
I can't do a video podcasttoday or whatever the reason is.
, I came up with it.
Just like a lot of you guys.
I came up with every reason asto why I couldn't do something.
Until now, or I said, you know what?
Darn it.
I am sick of making excuses.
I'm sick of stopping my life.

(03:59):
Because of all these misperceivedconceptions that people might have, and
I'm tired of worrying about things thatjust might not ever come to fruition.
I'm done worrying about that.
Yeah.
You can make fun of me for having the.
The messy counters and youknow, and all these other kinds
of stuff, but you know what.
At least I started, I started and I'mgoing to continue is my hope is my goal.

(04:23):
You know, as we continue to getbetter, things are changed and, and
everything will, will come a long ways.
So that's, that's my goal.
For me.
And I hope that would be your goalfor you because there's a couple
of things that you have to kindof really get your head around.
The very first time you do something.
It's going to be miserable.
It's going to suck, right?

(04:43):
You're never good at anything untilyou do it over and over and over again.
The very first time you cook a steak.
Right.
Did it ever come out like it doeswhen you get it at a restaurant?
I know it's going to be horrible.
It's going to be too cooked.
Uh, 200 cook, two overcoat.
It's going to be too gritty orit's going to be just whatever.
Um, the very first time that you,if you're doing an audio podcast or
a recording, or the very first timethat you go to a job interview, you

(05:07):
know, you go into a job interviewand it's new and you don't know what
to expect, and you're miserable.
You bomb under pressure, but as you doit more and more, the better and better
that you get at it, whether you're aboss and you're hiring for new people, or
if you're trying to look for a job, youknow, the first time that you do anything.
It's hard.
Let's see, what else can I think of?
If you've ever worked at a restaurant.

(05:29):
What does it matter if it's a sit-downrestaurant or a fast food restaurant
or whatever, your very first day,you've got a steep learning curve.
You don't know the menus.
You don't know where the drinks are.
You don't know to whereto get extra forks.
If you need those to put out.
, but as you get faster and fasterand you do it more and more
and more, it becomes easier.
But that first time that you do something.

(05:50):
It's going to bomb, but at leastyou get that chance to do it.
You have to start.
Somewhere.
I remember I took a job at acasino in Reno, Nevada, and
I met with my predecessor andthe one who I was replacing.
And I was asking a lot of questions.
She goes, oh, you needto meet this person.
And she would grab the phone andit was dial these extensions.
Um, and pop-up pop-up and Iwas like, how does she know

(06:10):
everybody's extension by heart?
It's because she'd been there for 10 yearsand she knows the extensions of basically
every phone extension in that entirecasino, you know, but she'd been there.
It came naturally to her and I was like,man, Every time I had to call somebody
out to go to that directory, open it upuntil the internet portal go into the
internet directory, find where they are,or even remember what their name for, you

(06:32):
know, but over time things got easier.
And that's what I'm hoping for thisvideo podcast, because now that I have
my setup, I know where my cameras are.
I know where my microphone goes.
From here, this is theworst it will ever be.
Right this episode, this podcast.
This is the worst.
It should ever be.

(06:53):
And that's an interestingconcept to have to grasp.
And I saw it, I don't remember who it was.
I don't know if it was a Casey Neistatvideo or something where he was
reviewing the apple vision pro wherethey were looking around and all that.
I think he said, or if it wasn'thim, it was somebody else.
I don't remember who.
But they said, this is the worstVR headset that will ever exist.

(07:14):
It's only going to get better from here.
But at least they started,at least they have something.
Now they can say, here wego, you look at the iPhone.
The very, very, very firstiPhone that was in Moto.
You know, it didn't even have stereoinputs and it was supposed to be
replacing your iPod, which was astereo, you know, this music device.

(07:35):
And you can only have one channel in it,but at least they got it started in every.
Every release from here on out, itjust gets better and better and better.
And our expectations keepgoing up and up and up.
And so I think that's what theimportance is of getting started.
It's not about doing.
It right.

(07:55):
The first time.
It's about just doing it.
And building up that momentummore and more each day.
So today I'm excited because thisis my very first video podcast.
It's going to go onto the regular podcast.
It's also going to go onto YouTube.
It's also going to go onto the website andthe more and more that you do something.

(08:16):
The easier and easier it becomes,it just becomes second nature.
And that's what I'mreally excited about here.
So I want to challenge you today.
I want to challenge you.
To just start.
And no it's going to be bad exceptthe fact it's not going to be
perfect, except the fact that it'snot going to be the same thing.

(08:38):
On paper or on video or whateverit is that you have in your head.
But you're going to get there themore and more that you do, something
the easier and easier it will becomethe better and better it will become.
The very first time you do something,it's going to be miserable.
I can probably give youa ton of other examples.

(08:58):
But I think you get the idea of,of what I'm trying to talk about.
So this is me.
Doing, as I say, which is just start.
And if I can do it.
I know that you can do.
So I encourage you today, whateverthat idea that you have in the back of
your mind, whatever it is that you'vebeen toying around with whatever idea
or concept, just get it started today.

(09:20):
Here's something else.
This is something else that I,I heard, , in another podcast
and I've been listening to.
They say, just do it.
And even if you do it, It doesn'teven mean you have to publish it.
It just means that you went throughthe motions and you're becoming
more comfortable with the process.
It never has to see the light of day.
It never has to get published andpromoted, you know, as your best

(09:41):
work or even as your worst worker,but just getting started and going
through the motions of getting allthat done is what is a big deal.
And I think that is going to be.
One of my biggest takeaways asI get done with this podcast.
Is that just because you do it?
Doesn't mean that it needs tolive on forever and ever, and

(10:02):
ever you can take it down.
It doesn't need to be published.
But this here for my sake and for yoursake, it's going live very, very soon.
And so I just want to take thisopportunity to challenge you
today to make something happen.
So just start whether it eversees the light of day or not,
it doesn't really matter, but.

(10:22):
Start and every day, if you're anartist and you just want to draw,
if you're a writer, if you are a.
A content creator, a video publisher,whatever it is that you want to do.
Just start doing it today becauseevery day that you do it, you're
going to get one day better.
And yes.
, just no.
That the very first time that you dosomething, it's going to be horrible.

(10:44):
But it will never be worse than today.
And.
I can't wait.
I can't wait for another year togo by where I can look back at
this video and go, oh my gosh.
What was I doing?
What was I thinking?
Because of how much I've grownand that year by just doing
so that's my hope for myself.
That is also my hope for you.

(11:05):
If you've got something out ofthis episode, please do me a favor.
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(11:27):
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So.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for watching.
I truly appreciate it.
From the bottom of my heart, andI will see you in the next episode