Motivation comes from small wins & action produces information
After speaking with many people, almost all successful 0 to 1 stories that I’ve heard from other founders have a variation of the archetypical story similar to the following:
Sarah is an aspiring entrepreneur with an idea for a handmade jewelry business. Instead of getting overwhelmed by the big picture - building a website, setting up an LLC, creating a large inventory - Sarah decides to start with a small, actionable step.
Sarah creates five unique pieces and sets up a simple booth at a local farmers market. Then, action produces information:
1. Sarah learns which designs attract the most attention.
2. She gathers feedback on pricing from potential customers.
3. She discovers that earrings sell better than necklaces in this setting.
4. She realizes that people are interested in custom orders.
Encouraged by selling three pieces and taking two custom orders, Sarah feels a boost of confidence.
This small success generates motivation to create more pieces. Using the information gathered, Sarah refines her designs, focusing more on earrings and planning for custom work.
She sets up an Instagram account to showcase her work, starting with photos from the market. This leads to more custom orders from friends and followers.
With growing demand, Sarah now feels motivated to tackle larger tasks like setting up a proper bookkeeping system and researching online selling platforms.
Each small step - from the first market sale to the first online order - builds upon the last, creating a snowball effect of momentum.
The process can be boiled down to the following:
- Just start in the direction that you want to achieve something.
- Start with tiny, achievable actions that you share with the world.
- Celebrate these small successes to build motivation.
- Use the information gathered from each action to refine your approach.
- Gradually increase the scope of your actions as motivation and information accumulate.
Action produces information which illuminate the next path, and the success from the action generates additional willpower to continue.
After all, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” is an age old proverb. The question is, how is the initial will generated?
The initial start requires some amount of trust. Trust in the process. Trust in that other people have already done this in the past. Trust that every start feels insignificant. The first line of Java that Jeff Dean writes is effectively going to look the same as your code. The point is to just get started.
The process of identifying and celebrating small wins is similar to weight training. In both cases, progress is gradual, consistent effort is key, and the compounding effect of small improvements leads to significant results over time.
You need to begin with manageable weights and focus on proper form. Each workout, you might increase the weight by a small amount or add an extra rep. These incremental changes might seem insignificant in the moment, but over weeks and months, they lead to noticeable improvements in strength and muscle mass.
As you continue lifting, you'll start to understand your body better. Most people begin with some sort of asymmetry. Some have more muscle in their legs, others in their right arm. Some may be carrying extra weight, while others might lack muscle mass. As you progress, these strengths and weaknesses become more apparent. Moreover, you'll learn how to truly "engage" certain muscle groups. It's one thing to read about lat pulls or watch videos of pull-ups, and another to actually "feel" your latissimus dorsi contracting and stretching.
Your continual progress will naturally spark curiosity. You'll find yourself diving into fitness communities on Reddit, watching technique videos on YouTube, and following fitness influencers on Instagram and TikTok. You'll likely strike up conversations with friends who work out and seek mentorship from more experienced lifters. This journey teaches you how to ask the right questions and discern quality information. You'll become adept at identifying misguided approaches, like crash diets or neglecting resistance training in favor of solely doing pilates.
All of what I’ve written of a typical progression of a person beginning to get into weightlifting is almost exactly the same in its structure to finding success in business. In fact, success in any field likely has a 0-1 story of this archetype.
The ones that fail to gain muscle have unrealistic expectations about changes in their physique. The importance of “small wins” is here. If you expect to be able to hit the 1000 pound club in a month and you have never exercised before, you will be disappointed. You need right expectations for the right time horizon. To do this, some amount of understanding of physics is required.
Fortunately, we are only limited by physics, and a lot of things can be “bent” when dealing with people or businesses.