A Perspective on Risk: The Biblical Side

Recently, I listened to a sermon by Tim Keller on “A Biblical Perspective on Risk,” and I appreciated the content so much that I decided to write on it. Tim Keller is an American Pastor and Christian Apologist who has authored many books for Christians and anyone looking for God. In this particular sermon, Tim explained the concept of risk and classified risk for better understanding. He then approached the discussion from a Biblical perspective, and I will be doing the same thing in this article.

Before we make the discovery about that specific perspective, first, we will start by defining the word.

The Meaning: What Is Risk?

Risk is defined in very similar ways by many people. To put it simply, it is the chance that the return on an investment made will be lower than what you expected. Once you know the risk, often expressed as a percentage, you can weigh it against the rewards and decide whether or not you would like to continue with an investment. 

Two Types of Risks: External versus Internal Risk

When discussing risk related to starting a new venture, there are two types of risks that should be analyzed before making any final decision.

The first is the external risk. It is determined after careful evaluation of the venture – this risk is calculated by running the numbers. For the second one, we have the internal risk. The internal risk here comes from within you and how you feel about pursuing a venture after carefully considering of all the external risks. This internal risk is your inner attitude towards the risk you are about to take. For example, if you have no fear of failure, chances are that your internal attitude towards the risk will be positive. In contrast, having fears or concerns will make you a bit more hesitant.

Now, these two possible states of internal attitude to risk are good in themselves.  However, being on the extreme of either can cause a lapse in decision-making. We know that we cannot sail on two rivers at the same time. One must choose on which road to take.

For instance, having no fear or being overconfident makes one less cautious and could result in making the wrong move. On the other hand, being crippled by worry which stems from a fear of failure, makes you unable to take smart risks. For some people, previous failures make them take on too few risks, while for others, it makes them take on bigger ones as they are looking for their big break.

Regardless of the category you fall into, you need to find a way to balance out your fears or overconfidence.  A balance between the two will help you make objective decisions about the risk you are about to embark on. This decision boils down to your internal attitude to risk affecting how you perceive the external risk.

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History of the Concept of Risk

While it might seem that risk has been an integral part of life forever, it may surprise you that the word risk was not used in the English language until the 1600s. Before that, the concept of chance was strongly influenced by the belief structure of fatalist Greek and classical Roman societies. 

According to the Greeks and Romans, the idea of risk simply didn’t exist because they believed in the acceptance of fate, or predestination. In other words, what was going to happen would happen, and all things are inevitable. This, of course, means that there is no point weighing up risks: ultimately, the result has already been pre-determined and you have no control over anything.

After that, the general idea of risk was first brought about through capitalism, as the capitalist society was very different from the ancient one. This was because deism developed around that period (between the 1600s – 1700s), making people less dependent on God supporting them. People began to understand and realize the need to get things done – by themselves. As the belief in predestination shrank, the understanding that they could make decisions brought about the need for people to calculate and manage those decisions. People began to believe themselves accountable for their own growth.

The Difference Between Christianity Today and Fatalism

As Christians, we believe in the sovereignty of God, but in a different way than the Greek and Roman fatalists did. Christianity is of the “despite what we do” belief, whereas fatalism believes in “resigned fate.” 

What this means for Christians is that we put in our very best and depend on God to make it work – we plant and water, and He causes them to grow. We know we are to take responsibility, and for every action we take, there will be consequences that will unfold. For the fatalists, however, God’s sovereignty includes predestination, and nothing we do makes a difference in how things develop. 

As Christians, we should strike a balance between our responsibility and God’s sovereignty. God is not a puppet master. Instead, He is a loving God who sent His son to die for us that we might be saved. 

Personal Note on the Impact of Deism

Deism served an excellent purpose of bringing to the consciousness of many the need to make decisions knowing that there are consequences to them. However, as with all extremities, this led many people to dismiss the need for God.  Unlike the black and white expectation that we either need God to spoon-feed us or, don’t need Him at all, we as humans need to understand that we should do as much as we can, while acknowledging that God crowns our efforts.

A Biblical Perspective on Risk

The bible doesn’t expressly talk about risk, which is not surprising, seeing as the concept of risk wasn’t in practice during that time. Despite this, the bible teaches us how to approach new ventures or investments and, as Christian entrepreneurs, guide us on how we access and undertake risk.

To be a smart, savvy, and courageous Christian entrepreneur, there are two things you need to know about: fear and control. Fear and control are mentioned often in the bible and, by understanding them, you will be taking steps in the right direction.

1. Fear

Fear is an emotional state of anxiety caused by either the awareness or the anticipation of a dangerous situation. The bible addresses this emotion many times, but the passage we will be focusing on here is Psalm 3. In Psalm 3, we read of David’s worries about his enemies who were trying to bring him down both physically and psychologically. Like many Christian entrepreneurs today, he had people who poked at his identity, questioning if God was with him (Psalm 3:1-2).

However, from verse 3, we saw a shift in the words of David, and those are what set a foundation for how we are to deal with fear when it threatens to cripple us.

How to Deal with Fear

To effectively deal with fear, we should take steps to handle it healthily and prevent recurrence.

  1. Admit Your Helplessness – The first thing David did at the beginning of the chapter was acknowledge the fears that were trying to swallow him whole that he could do nothing about. To deal with fear, you have to first admit to yourself that you are afraid and have no control over it.
  2. Acknowledge God – Relocate Your Security to Him “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.” – Psalm 3: 3. This verse guides us to the next step to take while dealing with fear: handing over what worries us to God. In handing over, or relocating our security, we are also acknowledging that we had put them in the wrong place before. Our fear arose because we were resting our security on our own frail abilities. Relocating your security to Him entails realizing during each episode of fear that God’s love for you, His grace, and your identity in Christ are your strongest and most valuable assets.

Why Should I Relocate my Security to God?

When you make your identity in Christ your most valuable asset, your head is held high in God.  What others say matters less, regardless of your achievements or failures. This does not mean that caring about your ventures is unimportant, but it is no longer your focal point. When you get to this point of relocating your security, you will find your fear of failure dissipated because your real assets are in God. There is nothing to fear if what you value most will never be affected.

Another major thing that a Christian entrepreneur will achieve through this practice is striking that balance between crippling fear and overconfidence that we discussed earlier. When you relocate your significance to God, you will discover that the fear that once crippled you has drastically reduced. Now, you can make more clear-headed decisions about your venture. 

How do I Relocate my Security to Him?

Relocating our security and significance is not as easy as simply deciding to. It takes singing, worship, repentance, prayer, and consciously sticking to it. All of this, of course, is built by being consistent over time.

2. Control

This is the second thing discussed in the bible that should influence how we take risks. James 4: 13-15 reads,Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”

This passage reminds us that we have no control over what happens at any point in our life. It reminds us of our insignificance in a world as vast as ours, and this revelation should greatly humble us. Today, our society encourages and even requires us to make plans. The problem is making plans often leads us to making mistakes.

Mistake and Self Overestimation

With planning comes the likelihood of overestimating the knowledge you have. You’ve run the numbers and believe that you can handle taking a risk from your calculations. But, we fail to realize that we don’t know what we don’t know, and there are many possibilities that we never even dreamed could occur.

Does this mean that planning is bad? No, far from it! Make the plans you need to, but always remember that the right circumstance, timing, and opportunities ensure our success, all of which we have no control over.

How to Relinquish Control

The truth is that we have no control to relinquish. So when we talk about relinquishing control, we mean accepting that we have no control and trusting God to fulfill our needs as He is the one who knows all things. 

Bottom Line

Fear of failure and wanting to control everything about our ventures are not foreign concepts to us Christians. But if we agree to let God take the reins and pioneer what we do, we would realize the things we do have control over and be wise, courageous, and bold in fulfilling our part. Therefore, I pray that you learn to trust God’s direction for your life and worry less, knowing that He cares for you.

Feel Stuck?

A friend sent us a link to a YouTube video.  We’re always hesitant because a.) don’t want to spend the time and b.) often good advice out there, but there’s also a lot of noise and don’t like to get pulled in a bunch of different directions.  

But, we’re glad we clicked on this one though:

Mel Robbins offers very simple advice to help us break out of our routine. While we don’t agree with everything said, generally, we think her advice is sound and that there’s a lot of truth and its worth a listen.  

Here’re our notes/summary:

Most times, our body sends us signals based on what we need. When you need food, you feel hungry, so you eat food; in the same way, you feel thirsty, so you take a drink. Each time the body sends its signals, especially those with solutions within our reach, we find it easy to fix those issues and satisfy the need. 

But what about when you feel stuck!? In business, we all feel this way at some point, but this doesn’t mean your life is broken; rather, it just might mean your needs are still not being met. A need that we don’t always consider is the need for growth and exploration! Everything is constantly growing and changing in life, and our soul is no different. It needs development and exploration. 

Step #1 Acknowledge you’re stuck and try to identify the reason why.

Step #2 Take Action. Forcing yourself to be uncomfortable is the only way. Beyond your comfort zone lies the growth zone, and while this is an opportunity to grow, you certainly won’t enjoy the process.

It’s easy to fall into a routine in life and drift along on autopilot. Our brain and body prefer autopilot because it’s easy and comfortable. But getting what you want takes effort. You have to force yourself to do things. Following your feelings is a trap; your feelings are not a good guide.

Bottom Line

Feeling stuck could result from compounded problems like getting tired of a routine, low mental stimulation at your job, or even not having enough rest or nutrition. Don’t wait until you feel like doing something — it won’t happen — instead, try to eliminate the negative feelings while reminding yourself of the resources available to you and then get to work. 

As Mel put it, achieving your goals and aspirations is simpler than you think, but it’s never easy!

Using Funding Partners for Your Land Deal

Do you have a great land deal that you want to invest in but have decided against, either because you don’t have the money or because that single investment would tap out your funds?  You may have considered using alternate sources of capital to fund your deal but don’t know where to start, who you can trust, or if it even makes sense to do so. 

Although you may initially have reservations about working with an investor in your land deal, partnering up to buy land has many advantages and benefits.

What are the benefits of having a funding partner for your land deal? Do the benefits outweigh any associated risks? How can bringing a funding partner on board help you achieve your goals?

We hope to address why we think using funding for your land deals makes sense (most of the time)!

Higher Return on Investment (ROI) 

When you use outside capital to fund 100% of the land acquisition costs, your investment is close to $0.  Even after splitting your profits with the capital partner, your ROI dramatically increases compared to funding the deal yourself. 

Not only does joining forces with an investor with similar goals to yours bring in the much-needed capital injection required to boost your land deal, but it also makes securing additional funding in the future much more straightforward.

Increase Volume

Bringing a funding partner on board means that you get the financial muscle to get more deals done than if you relied solely on your resources. As a result, you will be better prepared to move quickly on any lucrative offers as soon as they become available, increasing the volume of deals you can complete and boosting your profitability.

If funding allows you to double your volume, but you’re splitting the profit 50% with a funding partner, it doesn’t take a mathematician to see this doesn’t work. However, with a larger land deal volume, you can take advantage of the benefits of scale. By increasing your current deal flow by five times, for instance, you can see why a funding partner helps you make the most of your investment. 

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Spread Risk

As with any other investment, there is always the possibility of suffering losses when you enter a land deal. However, the benefit of having a funding partner is that you bear any losses together, so the burden on you is much less compared to taking on the entire loss from your deal.

Using funders also allows you to protect your principal and ultimately spend more time, money, and effort on improving your systems or sending more mail.   

A Second Pair of Eyes

Besides your due diligence, your capital partner will also play a role in analyzing the deal since they also have an interest in the success of the land deal. They provide a new perspective – validating a sound investment, or potentially uncovering some red flags.  

When you have an investment partner sifting through the details of a potential land deal, you can take the opportunity to tap into their knowledge and experience to help you make informed decisions. What’s more, you will possibly save yourself plenty of financial headaches as a result.

Leverage Funder’s Network/ Knowledge

Depending on the land-specific experience level of your funding partner, the capital partner can assist either deal-specific or a more general level by providing tools, tips, and other valuable resources and connections. 

Additionally, you cannot overstate the importance of networking to the success of your investment. When you work with a funding partner, you increase the pool of potential buyers, agents, title companies and other land investors available to you.

Bigger Deals

When you know you have a capital source ready, willing, and able to fund your deals, your confidence in the investment goes up.  Acquiring much larger and more profitable properties will become a reality. 

By placing you in a stronger purchasing position, having a funding partner allows you to invest in property deals that you would otherwise be unable to afford. As noted above, if your funding partner specializes in the land-buying space, you could leverage their knowledge and connections to find bigger deals.

Talk To Us about Funding For Your Land Investments

Even the most seasoned land investor knows that they cannot do everything themselves. You need to do whatever you know well and let your funding partner handle their specialty to succeed.

Understanding that no one wants to hassle with additional layers of complexity in their deals, Freedom Land Capital aims to create a simple, streamlined approach to funding land investments.  

If any of the above resonates with you, please visit www.freedomlandcapital.com to learn more.

There’s Never a “Right Time” – Just Go For It

This is a B2B article. And no, we’re not talking about Business to Business. Today, it’s Bible to Business! You never thought the Bible could be applied to business? Well, think again. As we are about to see, many of our business principles are inspired by the Word of God.

There’s so much wisdom we can glean from Scripture, but sometimes it can be hard to apply directly into our lives. It can certainly be a challenge to apply it into our businesses! I came across a portion of scripture this morning while listening to the book, Faith Driven Entrepreneur. It struck me how directly applicable it was to Real Estate investing, and so I wanted to share my thoughts.

In Ecclesiastes 11:4, Solomon says, “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” He goes on to say in verse 6, “sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle.” Reading all of Ecclesiastes, but Chapter 11 in particular, helps to put the verse into perspective. Here are our big takeaways from this particular section that we can use in our daily lives as investors.

1. Focus on the opportunity, not the potentially unfavorable outcomes.

It’s easy to dwell on the bad things that might occur in a particular venture, as that is the mind’s default state. The key is to focus on potential success rather than potential failure. In whatever venture you embark on, there is always the chance that something will go wrong. Instead of dwelling on this, ask yourself, Where’s my focus? Discover ways of redirecting your focus. It may take time, but eventually, focusing on the potential positives will become automatic.

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2. Don’t delay taking a shot at something out of fear.

Act now and go for gold! Fear and worry are detrimental to the entrepreneur. In other parts of Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about proper planning and weighing all the risks. Of course, these are important steps that should not be ignored, but sometimes we dwell on the minor details and delay taking a leap of faith. There’ll never be a right time to take any step, especially when in fear – so just take the step! Ask yourself: what are you putting off, and why are you doing so?

3. Take risks and work hard.

Solomon demonstrates that it’s not enough to just plant your seeds and sit back and hope something happens. He says we need to be proactive in our endeavors. Make the investment, then follow up on it and do everything you can to ensure it’ll be a success. You can’t blame anyone for your lack of success when you make a half-hearted effort. Where are you being idle? This is a question we should ask ourselves today. If you are being idle in a particular area of life, set measures to change that dynamic moving forward.

Bottom Line

You may have missed opportunities in the past because you were afraid, too skeptical, or kept pushing it for later. If that’s the case, you aren’t alone – these barriers to success are struggles we have all faced at some point or another. With high risks come high returns, and you can only overcome inaction by doing the opposite. No matter how long you’ve been holding yourself back, it’s never too late to re-evaluate your fears and just do it.

We hope this scripture encourages you. Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. 5As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. 6Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

In other words, Just Go For It!

Scaling Your Land Investment Business

If you look at some of the most successful companies, you will notice that they aren’t constantly changing their strategies and reinventing themselves with every market change. Instead, they relentlessly build a repeatable approach to every department within their business.

Compared to other business models, land investment may not strike you as being repeatable or scalable. But in fact, it is both! That is exactly what we have done with our land investing business model–and we can teach you how to do the same.

Scalability and Repeatability

In order to scale your land, you first have to understand the concept of land scalability and repeatability:

  • Scalability is your business’s capacity to grow when faced with increased production without being limited by the availability of resources and/or structure. 
  • On the other hand, repeatability is the ability to perform the same sales processes over again and establish sustained growth. 

These two terms go hand-in-hand: the true test of whether your business is scalable is if the processes you applied when scaling it can be repeated, and lead to growth. 

A scalable business model yields more returns as more resources – capital and labor – are invested in it. When this can be repeated, the business model is said to be both scalable and repeatable. 

Why are scalability and repeatability important?

From the buy-side to sell-side and everything in between, our land investing business model is built around repeatable systems and processes that are never changed, only improved upon. We simply alter the software we use as needed, and we adjust offer prices based on the current real estate market: those are the only things that change.

One of the foundational pillars of scalability is building a business on repeatable processes that don’t require you to be involved in every step as the owner. The result is simple: if you focus on a specific strategy with well-defined acquisition criteria, then build out repeatable processes for acquiring and reselling land at a profit, you will have a business you can be truly proud of. Not only that, but you’ll be able to step away for months at a time without seeing any dip in your bank balance!

 

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How to Scale your Land Business

While life sounds so much better this way, scaling your land business doesn’t happen by itself. It takes conscious, intentional, and well-thought-out plans to achieve. In this article, we will be sharing with you some of the steps we took to scale our land business, and how you can do the same for an equally rewarding outcome.

Find your Niche

The very first step in building your land business is finding and developing your specific niche. Developing your niche promotes the positive budding of relationships; people love to work with whom they are comfortable. Niching also builds your credibility in the industry and helps your business reach household name status.

Have a Clear Strategy

Defining your goals and having a clear strategy on how to achieve them is absolutely essential. Not only do goals help in limiting redundancies, but they also improve productivity in areas that need focusing on. With a clear strategy, you will find it much easier to remain dogged in your journey of scaling your land business.

Having a clear strategy involves:

Building the right structure. Your business needs an adequate personnel structure to function properly. When structured well, members of your team will be better positioned to perform at their very best, as their roles will be properly defined.

Delegating tasks. Delegate responsibilities to members of your team; don’t try to do everything by yourself, as it won’t be sustainable in the long run. Delegating tasks boosts productivity and saves you time. It also fosters creativity in your business, as each member of the team will have a unique idea to contribute.

Delegating can be difficult, especially when you are someone who likes to control the quality of all aspects of the business–but if you can learn to trust the team you’ve built, delegating will help to grow and strengthen your business from within.

Be Committed

Commitment yields favorable results over time. One of the major impeders to success is the lack of commitment. If you don’t commit fully to your cause, you’ll never know how far you might have gotten if you’d dedicated more time and energy. The results you achieve by being committed to your goals and strategies will astound you.

Find the bottlenecks in your business

It is never easy to accept when things don’t go as well as you’d planned or envisioned. It may lower your morale and keep you down for a while, and that’s okay. The important thing is to bounce back as soon as possible. Instead of wallowing, identify the areas that need improvement, then take action to resolve the issues. Hire professionals to fill particular roles and responsibilities that need attention. Once you fix the pain points, you can sit back and watch your business flourish.

Hone in on Your Strengths

At this point in your career, you may already be aware of your personal strengths and weaknesses. If you aren’t sure, or you suspect they may have changed, it’s worth taking the time to explore your strong points and pitfalls.

Once you’ve identified your weaknesses, improving in those areas is obviously going to be your next step. But what of your strengths? Those need to be developed, too–you will be outperformed by others if you do not continue to hone your skills and talents. Ask yourself how you can perform better, find creative ways to do things, and use your identified strengths to boost productivity.

Stay on top of new efficiency software

The world is moving quickly, and things are changing all the time–especially in the tech world. You can’t afford to remain where you started, or you’ll be well and truly swept away. Staying up to date with the latest software and technologies helps you to:

  • Stay abreast of trends as they come and go
  • Make informed decisions on how to go forward with your business
  • Boost efficiency

The latest software and technology will often provide you with more efficient ways of getting things done.

Measure your Growth

As other successful businesses do, you should take inventory of your process. Proper documentation of the steps and decisions being made in your journey will help define:

  • The steps you are taking, both right and wrong
  • Changes that need to be made to ensure more growth
  • Areas that need to be worked on and redundancies that should be removed

This process also ensures that you take into account any changes that have occurred in the market, thereby allowing you to devise ways to implement them in your model. Not engaging in the periodic measurement of your processes reduces the pace at which you can scale your business.

Stay Connected to Other Land Investors

Get involved in mastermind groups and training groups that allow you to interact with others in the space, especially those who are performing better than you are–this is one of the best ways to learn. Be mentored by them, read their books, and watch their videos. Staying connected will speed up your learning curve tenfold.

Don’t be scared to send more mailers!

If you find a good deal, you’ll be able to find the capital to purchase. Do not limit yourself by the amount of money you have in your account. If you only mail counties or target properties based on how much money you have in your personal bank account, you’ll never scale as fast as you probably want to. Push your financial boundaries! With high risks come even higher rewards–and investing in land is one of the most high-risk investments you can make.

Use Funding Partners

Many businesses will provide financial contributions if you request funding from them. When choosing a funding partner, you’ll want to find one that aligns with your goals and needs. Your choice of funding partner greatly affects the scalability of your land business, so be intentional about your choice and make informed decisions. If you are looking to get a funding partner, reach out to Freedom Land Capital to find out how we can help.

Bottom Line

When done properly, scaling a business will reduce your workload rather than increase it. The scaling process involves more work to begin with; however, you’ll need to sort through your internal systems and create a progressive dynamic that stimulates business growth. Following the steps outlined above will help you live the life you want to and build the successful business you always envisioned for yourself.

Don’t be afraid of failing–just take it one step at a time. We’ve done it, and you can too!

 

 

Is Preparation Really The Key?

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” – Abraham Lincoln

When starting out on any new venture, many have preached that being prepared is an absolute necessity. Even Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Most people make some kind of plan before they launch into action. But what if we told you that too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing, and that preparedness isn’t everything?

The intention here isn’t to confuse you (though it may seem that way at first!) Indeed, preparation is important for success – but a lot can happen between preparation and getting started. Even with the most thorough planning, there are some things you simply can’t predict or prepare for. Things like:

Failed Plans

As Mike Tyson infamously said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth!” Nothing is completely within your power to achieve, and unfortunately, this means your plan could blow up in your face when you least expect it. 

Try as we might, being prepared cannot guarantee our success. There’s something to be said for preparing to fail; you need to accept that your first, third, or even tenth attempt could result in failure, and that doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t prepare enough.

Over-Analysis and Over-Planning

Attempting to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ can delay your progress. It can cause a lack of action, slow starts, paralysis, fear, and anxiety. If you’re anything like myself, a fear of failure may cause you to consider every possible angle before proceeding. 

The downside to this is that you will likely foresee many potential problems which cause you to doubt. You will find yourself anxious and less excited about getting started, and with that, you will lose much of the vigor you initially had.

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The Question

The preparation phase is important, but it can be overdone. So how do we navigate this somewhat paradoxical advice? 

Of course, you should always prepare to a certain extent – just not to your own detriment. It is up to you to determine for yourself what over-analysis means for you and your business. Try not to let preparedness get in the way as you take a leap of faith and step out of your comfort zone. 

Contingency plans are an example of this; having them is a wise thing to do, but creating contingency plans for your contingency plans is probably going overboard.

Problems With Over-Planning

Like anything we overindulge in, over-planning comes with a number of problems. Rather than propelling you forward in your endeavors, it can stagnate your progress, and will often lead to issues such as:

You May Become Inflexible

Just as ballerinas must be flexible to create their beautifully choreographed dances, you too must practice flexibility in order to succeed. 

If you set your mind on certain plans and do not allow room for the unexpected, challenges and setbacks that arise may throw you off your course. You may find yourself unable to redirect to a new route if need be; your mind will become stuck on the timeline you have worked towards, rendering you incapable of forging ahead. 

Make plans, certainly – but don’t set them in stone straight away.

It’s Hard to Anticipate Your Pain Points From The Outset

Irrespective of the time you spend planning before getting started, it’s impossible to know the bottlenecks until you stop planning and start acting. Over-planning will simply prevent you from accepting the unexpected.

If you are prone to over-planning your projects or ventures, you may be familiar with one or more of the following:

  • You are afraid of imperfection.
  • You have a lot of abandoned projects.
  • You bother about the littlest details.
  • You are afraid of change.
  • You have little to nothing to show for all the extensive planning you have done.

If you identify with one, some, or all of the above, know that this is completely normal. There are plenty of steps you can take to reframe your thinking, starting with these:

Acknowledge the Act

The first step to changing your habits for the better is to realize and accept your flawed thinking. In other words, acknowledge that you are over-planning. 

You can do this by taking note of what activities you spend the bulk of your time on. Doing so will allow you to allocate your time more effectively, as you will be able to see what activities to cut down on and which to dedicate more time to. 

It is also a helpful exercise to identify your reasons for over-planning, whether that be fear of failure, resistance to change, or something else.

Filter The Information That Gets In

It’s smart to keep informed about the industry you are getting into – after all, knowledge is a pillar of success. As with all things, however, consuming too much information can be a bad thing. It can overwhelm you and cause you to doubt yourself. Over time, your voice may be drowned out by the many pieces of information you have floating in your head. 

When you find yourself unable to start because you are scared of accidentally deviating from all you have learned, that is your sign to stop researching and start working. Put a limit on the amount of time you can spend planning; then once that window is up, it’s go-time!

Set Deadlines and Launch Dates For Your Projects

Many of our best laid-plans end up stagnating, sitting in the ‘work in progress’ pile for far too long. One way to avoid the slow death of your project is to set a launch date for it. As the launch date approaches, you will find yourself putting the finishing touches on whatever plans you have underway. 

If you are prone to shifting deadlines, you can also enlist the help of accountability measures. For example, if you already have a business and you are in the process of launching a new feature or service, you could set a launch date and announce it to your existing clients. By making things public, you will have no choice but to work towards your goal.

Break Bigger Tasks into Smaller Tasks

Breaking your project into smaller, more actionable tasks will help to encourage you forward. This way, you can have small milestones to check off as you progress toward the launch of your project. Each little victory will help to motivate you and push you onward. Breaking things down will also make the project feel a little less overwhelming. 

Learn to Accept Imperfection

If you have set a public deadline for your project, there’s still no guarantee it will be perfect – even the night before launch. The only way to press on with your project, and any projects to come, is to make peace with imperfection. 

When you challenge yourself to stop planning and start acting, you will find yourself in a much better position to adapt to unexpected situations and changes. Planning is important, but it should never get in the way of executing your ideas. Even as your plan unfolds, there will always be more to do, more changes to make, and more unexpected hiccups to adapt to.

Bottom Line

At the end of the day, it is God we have to depend on. He’s the one in charge – in fact, He is the only one who can predict every challenge and possible outcome. This does not exempt us from being prepared, however; we are still tasked with making decisions and taking action. Knowing that God is in control serves as an element of faith and a source of courage. This we can see in the Bible, in which it tells us that “You can prepare a horse for the day of battle. But the power to win comes from the Lord” – Proverbs 21:31.

The truth is, we will never have all the answers. We should rely on God rather than acting solely on our own wisdom. Even Solomon said so in Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

Our prayer and hope for you today is that you make the necessary preparations for the business or project you want to get started on, then take the leap of faith and go for it. There’s nothing stopping you from reaching your full potential today – only you stand between yourself and the realization of your goals. Trust in God to be with you as you fulfill each task. You can do it!