David Strittmatter

Start now and get perfect later

Dear friend,

How’s it going? Did you have an exciting and enjoyable week? I definitely had a great week. Last weekend I went to Vancouver, Canada for a meeting of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung) of scholarship holders from North America and it was great. So many inspiring personalities from whom I can learn so much. I am amazed every time how down-to-earth these people are, despite the fact that many have already achieved far above average results and are the best in their discipline. Founders who have already failed several times with their company, students who are just doing their masters and are already researching and publishing on big topics in well-known journals, young people who have dared to take the step to the best universities in the world for their studies and pursue their passion there – for me this incredibly impressive and inspiring. Moreover, it felt awesome to be surrounded of people who want to shape this world and actively work very hard to make the most out of their life and, at the same time, I am very grateful to become grounded by such experiences. It reminds that I should never be the smartest person in the room and that there is always someone I can learn from.

But now enough swarming and praising – let’s come to the actual topic: My learnings of the past week.

There is no perfect time to start

Regularly – even weekly – I am confronted with the issue that I do not feel ready for something yet. I wrote before that you should not hesitate if you are afraid to do something. This past issue was mainly about running away from small day-to-day challenges due to fear and discomfort. However, this issue is more about the feeling you feel when you think about bigger goals, plans as well as dreams. This is more a sense of insecurity and uncertainty. It occurs to me when I think about my bigger goals and my dreams. I try to find excuses not to do it, although I have this high motivation and dedication to do it. And mostly, I tell myself that I do not feel ready yet. This sounds familiar to you, doesn’t it?

Over the past few days, I have realized that there is really no perfect time to start; the perfect time to start is now. And for me the quote – start now and learn get perfect later – is feeling now incredibly true. Last week I uploaded my first video although I still have not the perfect video shooting, cutting and editing skills and no real experience in this field. Nevertheless, it feels great that I did my best for this first video and that I now have time to improve: From video to video I will improve, create better content and have a steep learning curve. It just feels great that I did not hesitate to start my channel.

Currently, I am still telling myself excuses that I am not striving to get my first founding experience. I have a dream to start my own company/companies and I am 100% dedicated to this dream. However, I am still deluding myself that it is not the right time yet since I want to get professional experience and the network first (what is supposed to be in five years). From today on, though, I will change my mind. It will be most likely that I will not have access to the right people and have not the necessary skills yet. Still, I am quite sure – from now on – that I do not need to be perfectly ready to search and strive for opportunities to get my first founding experience. I am convinced that I am able to found a company despite it might be a big failure. In the end, though, I can only win and gain invaluable experience what accelerates my personal development at an exceptional speed.

And this is with everything in life: There is no perfect time to start. Start now. Fail now. Fail better. Eventually, you will be much more experienced and competent at the time you thought you would be ready. Start with your new hobby, start following your dreams, do not let the misconception that you’re not ready to stop you. You really can only win if you are looking for experience. I really hope you enjoyed this week’s issue. Let me know if you have feedback. 

All the best to you and yours,

David

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