I couldn’t resist sharing what I saw on the fifteenth page as it arrested my wandering attention. “I love this. I think I should share it on Facebook.” And that marked the conscious beginning of my journey as a writer.
It was a plain old day in one of the later months of 2014 after I bagged my third leaving school certificate. I newly created a Facebook account where I often spend most hours of my noon since I had less to do. I picked up a small brown notepad I had since my first year at junior secondary school, where I wrote some quotes, write-ups and book reviews. Skimming through the pages, a quote arrested my attention that prompted me to share it on my Facebook timeline. At that point, I had little knowledge of writing. Hence, I shared it using abbreviations.
After some time, I began writing short motivational articles. I had many grammatical errors in my writeups but kept writing regardless because I found joy in what I was doing. It was quite challenging at that time due to the fact that the phone (not a smartphone) I used had lots of faults; most times while writing an article or when I’m through writing, it will wipe out the article itself causing me to rewrite another one regardless of the length. That was really frustrating.
Owing to the fact that I wanted to be better at writing, I joined some virtual platforms for writers where the art of writing was thought. One of which was, “Pen Masters” by Emeka Nobis which really helped in building my writing skills.
Looking back at my creative writing skills 8 years back, I can’t commend myself less for starting when I had less knowledge and tools that would have made my writing journey much easier.
My story above is one that a lot of people who had little when they started their journey to success can relate to. In one’s journey to greatness, there are only a few factors that beat one’s ability to start especially when it isn’t convenient enough.
A popular Chinese quote by Lao Tzu read, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” which in direct Chinese translation reads, “A journey of a thousand Chinese miles ( li ) starts beneath one’s feet”
This buttresses the fact that whatever feat you desire to reach, you must take a step by making the right decision whether it’s convenient or not.
Starting small isn’t about starting when you’ve got all things figured out. It’s about starting when you know the journey is worth embarking on and the goal is worth the go.
Nicky Verd said, “Instead of waiting to start big, start small so that you can grow big”
According to Joel Gascoigne, the CEO and co-founder of buffer.com,
“The challenge for a lot of us is that when we go about our lives, we interact with so many “big” things and we forget or don’t even know how they originally started. It’s difficult to understand how the evolutionary process of products and brands contributes and is vital to what they are today. We also all have big aspirations and want to get there fast. I’ve personally made the mistake of trying to jump to “big” too soon many times before: the goal of my previous startup was to…”
A lot of people still have ideas, visions and dreams still hanging in their closet because they feel that idea deserves a big beginning, which might not surface anytime soon.
I started writing when I had little knowledge about the art. I made tons of mistakes but that didn’t stop me. I could remember when I made a comment on one of the virtual writing platforms I belonged to on WhatsApp. I stated I was amazed at first when I got to know a majority of the writers on the platform were people who had little knowledge of writing at first. Knowing that encouraged me to keep up with the learning and growth process. This only means that my decision to start writing brought me to a place where growth became feasible.
The Benefits of Starting Small
1. It Creates Room for Growth
You must have read in my story above where I wrote, “Owing to the fact that I wanted to be better at writing, I joined some virtual platforms for writers where the art of writing is thought…” That tells you that starting my writing journey brought me to the consciousness that I needed to learn the art more, to write effectively. If I didn’t start at that time, my growth would have been delayed. I probably would have been procrastinating on improving my writing skills if I had acknowledged that I needed to be more skilful in writing before starting.
Growth is essential and key to becoming a Pro at anything. And most times, you barely know you need to grow if you don’t start with the little knowledge you have. This doesn’t dispute the importance of “adequate preparation” in any journey you decide to take. It only reveals the importance of starting with the little you have because it gives you an edge to grow as it creates opportunities for you.
Before Microsoft, Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert invented Traf-O-Data whose objective was to read the raw data from roadway traffic counters and create reports for traffic engineers. In fact, they were still in high school and sort the help of their classmates in the invention process. This clearly means that they didn’t have everything all perfectly set up before starting their journey to inventing Traf-O-Data, which later with better knowledge through growth, brought about the invention of Microsoft. Aside from Microsoft which started small, other multi-million dollar companies like Google.com, alibaba.com, Dangote, etc started small before attaining the success they have today. The scripture also attests to this as it stresses in Zechariah 4:10
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. ‘(The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world.)'” (New Living Translation)
This scripture shows us how God is pleased with the person that starts a journey with the little he has rather than waiting to start big.
2. It Brings About Opportunities
While surfing the net, the article, “8 Great Entrepreneurial Success Stories” by Steve Tobak, the author of “Real Leaders Don’t Follow” caught my attention as I read the brief story of the owners of Arizona Green Tea.
John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio were friends who started a beer distributor out of the back of an old VW bus. Two decades later, after seeing how well Snapple was doing they decided to try their hand at soft drinks and launched AriZona Green Tea. Today, AriZona teas are #1 in America and distributed worldwide. The friends still own the company. Let’s say John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio never started off using an old VW Bus because they wanted to get a new and better VW Bus. Would they have seen the possibility of launching AriZona Green Tea? That’s an opportunity created because they didn’t wait to have everything before thinking of starting.
I have had opportunities of connecting with phenomenal personalities, learning from them through platforms I joined to help my growth in writing. Some of these individuals helped me gain value and resources that would have cost a huge amount of money, for free. I can remember publishing my first book for free. This was an opportunity starting small attracted. In my post, “How To Attract Good Luck And Avoid Bad Luck With Story From, “The Richest Man In Babylon” By George S. Clason” I wrote about how avoiding delay and starting small can attract opportunity, referencing the story in the blog post. Opportunity slipped from the man’s hand because he refused to start small as well as the architect who felt he had little experience.
To a very high probability, starting small begets countless opportunities.
3. It Enhances Potential in Management/Oversight
Imagine you got an appointment to manage a petty grocery store. You worked for six weeks and resigned because you got a better appointment where the salary is 10 times bigger. Even though you worked for just a few weeks, you won’t deny the fact that managing the petty grocery store helped you to be better at keeping records and managing finances. This is exactly how starting small maximizes your potential in management. It helps improve your sense of responsibility as a person.
According to Donald, one of the authors at freshscripture.com,
“The fact is, big things always come from small beginnings. When you start something that God puts in your heart, it might seem small in your eyes. But your ability to handle the small things will determine your ability to handle the big things. If you can’t handle the small things, you can’t handle the big ones. But if you are faithful in the small things, you will also be faithful in the big ones.”
This enunciates the fact that even the Bible encourages its readers to never underestimate the influence of starting small, as it moulds their mindset and prepares them for bigger responsibilities.
In summary, the secret to big achievement lies in starting even when you don’t have everything all figured out. And to make the rewards of starting small palpable, you need to make consistency your partner. James Stephenson puts it better when he wrote,
“If you’re daunted by a large goal or desired outcome that you don’t know how to achieve, find something small that will move you in that direction and do it. Then do it again, then again, then again.”
