Being an Entrpreneur is Like…Knitting

If you’re reading this sentence, then the title hasn’t scared you away yet.  Stick with me, there’s good stuff here and knitting knowledge is not a prerequisite.

A couple years ago, a good friend taught me how to knit after I told her how much trouble I had sleeping.  I’ve never been a good sleeper but after starting TrueBody, I’ve been plagued more than ever by what I call monkey brain:  the incessant trains of thought about what I need to do, what I could do, what I want to do, what I forgot to do.  I’ve tried meditation, breathing exercises, journaling, yoga, a glass of wine (or three), but pretty much the only thing that works is reading myself to sleep and even that has its drawbacks if it’s a really good book…. So I was willing to try anything.  My friend said the knitting would help “unravel my mind” as I unraveled a ball of yarn into repetitive patterns of knit 1, purl 2.

Surprisingly, it does help, when I stick to easy patterns in nice rectangular shapes.  But one can only knit so many scarves and baby blankets.  Plus I suppose it’s just part of my nature that I like to challenge myself, so I’ve moved onto things with more intricate patterns and less rectangular shapes.  Now I find myself having to interpret instructions like “yfwd, s1, k1, psso” and getting really fancy making cables and bobbles (actually haven’t figured out how the hell to make a bobble yet, but give me time).

Each time I get a new pattern and try to interpret the knitting Greek, I feel a little sense of apprehension.  Like I’ve gotten myself in over my head this time.  But I just dive in and do what I know until I get to the tricky part and usually once I get there, I discover that now I can figure it out.  Because I can see how things are coming together and I have a better sense of where I am going.  And on the few occasions when I can’t figure it out myself, I ask for help.  (Asking for help is an important thing and will get a chapter all to itself!)

This is how being an entrepreneur is like knitting.  If you get too fixated on the challenges that are looming 10 rows – or two years – away, you might never get started.   You get caught up in analysis paralysis.  So you’ve got to just dive right in and do what you know with the confidence that you will learn things and meet people along the way that will help you deal with the challenges once you get there.  It’s all about the confidence really.

Lots of people have a vision and great ideas, but when it comes to starting, it takes a certain confidence and courage to take the leap (ok, you can call it craziness if you want).  For me, I’d much rather test out my vision and trust in my ability to learn and adapt, than not to try and be left wondering what might’ve been.  After all, if it doesn’t come out as planned, just like knitting, I can unravel it and start again.  I’ve learned more about knitting by having to take my mistakes apart and then trying again.  The same is true with TrueBody.  I’ve dug into what didn’t work and re-started many times, with a much better idea about what needs to be done to succeed.

It might not come out perfect but as long as it still looks like what you envisioned, keep going.  And hopefully you won’t run out of yarn….  (yarn = metaphor for money; that chapter coming soon)