I’m a man of action. When I have a great idea, I don’t think about it. I start executing it. I have no habit of procrastination to kill. This is key to the entrepreneurial spirit.

If you want to accomplish anything great, whether it’s starting a business, running a Spartan race, or writing a novel, you can’t wait till you’re “ready.” Ready doesn’t exist. Planning turns to procrastinating. Eventually, you fall victim to the inertia of your own fear and inaction.

Sure, you may need to find backers to launch your entrepreneurial idea, but it’s not going to begin on its own while you look at lists of potential sponsors for the hundredth time.

The hell with readiness. I want you to jump in with both feet right now.

Why? Once you’re committed, you have no choice but to move forward. Take Spartan. You’d be amazed at all the newbies who sign up, people who not only have never done obstacle course racing, but haven’t run a race since gym class. But once they’ve signed up they’re stuck. They’ve told everyone what they’re doing and they have no choice but to get in shape and get ready. Sure, it’s tough; everything really worth having in life takes real effort, but now they’ve lit a fire within themselves to get it done.

Want more proof? Just look at how Richard Branson went from high school dropout to billionaire. He didn’t wait until he was ready to start something new. He went from making his own magazine for students to selling mail-order records to building a record store to putting out his own record label by seizing opportunities and learning along the way. Know how he started Virgin Airlines? He chartered a plane he couldn’t afford and sold seats to pay for it.

Now, I’m not saying that you should dive into anything new blindly, but I’m going to bet that you’ve given this new venture a lot of thought. What you haven’t done is start—otherwise, you’d be out there crushing it instead of reading this. So to get you going, here are a few more reasons why you should kick yourself in the pants right now and embrace the entrepreneurial spirit.

1. You’ll learn as you go. No one goes into anything knowing everything. Getting out there will show you what you need to know to succeed.
2. You need to hurry up and fail. Not starting because you’re afraid you’re going to fail is stupid for just this reason—you’re going to fail. That’s a good thing. It unlocks doors and shows you how foolish your previous fears were—and that builds courage. And with each failure you move a little closer to success.
3. Perfection will strangle you. You’ve probably heard the expression “perfect is the enemy of progress.” Perfectionism is often the beast that keeps novices from taking a chance. Don’t give it an opening to get you into a sleeper hold.
4. Taking it on headfirst builds momentum. Ever gotten psyched up for a game? Taking the leap builds the energy you need to spring into action. And that will carry you across the finish line to success.

Want to embed the entrepreneurial spirit into your life? Pre-order Joe's new book, The Spartan Way.

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