5 steps to make it happen
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Goethe
Back in 2017 James Wright was invited out for lunch by fellow fundraiser Kenneth Foreman. As it was James’ birthday, he thought Kenneth was creating a distraction so his colleagues could decorate his desk with balloons.
What actually prompted the lunch invite was that Kenneth had had an idea. He was thinking of starting a podcast, and wondered if James would like to be co-presenter.
More than 7 years, and 121 episodes later, the glorious Do More Good podcast is still going strong.
A few weeks ago I caught up with Kenneth and James for an interview about their journey, and some of the many valuable things they’ve learned along the way. You can listen to it here on my own show Fundraising Bright Spots.
That conversation got me thinking about why sometimes the Big Idea we have ends up seeing the light of day. You manage to make the thing happen and create a wonderful momentum, as Kenneth and James have done.
And why all too often that doesn’t happen. The initial spark for your Big Idea fizzles out.
Perhaps you’ve been daring yourself to blog or vlog, or try your hand at some freelance work…but you can’t quite get started. Or you want to create an intra-team initiative or running club or book group in your charity. Or maybe you’ve been wondering about joining or starting some other project that serves the sector…
…Regardless of what your new idea is, here are five things you can do to help turn your idea or side hustle into reality.
1. Ask yourself, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing?’
As soon as you make a plan, obstacles start showing up. And some of them usually show up before you get the rewards of the project coming to fruition. So to help you keep moving forward, doing the necessary (often boring or difficult) steps, it’s crucial that you keep tuning into the reason why you’d like to do it.
I once had the privilege of interviewing Paralympic gold medallist Karen Darke about how she achieves so much in spite of difficult odds. (You can read her recipe for success here.) When I asked her how she had motivated herself to move from being unable to move from her hospital bed, to competing in wheelchair marathons and the Paralympics, she told me that the key thing is to keep thinking and talking about the thing that excites you, by asking the question ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing?’ And she writes it down. Crucially, she allows herself to do this even when that idea doesn’t seem at all practical / possible yet!
Note, this is very unusual! It’s not easy. Most of us rarely allow ourselves to do this, until after the dream seems realistic. But without doing it, we are unlikely to get started and keep going till it does feel objectively realistic.
2. Focus on the small steps that are in your control.
Karen told me that if you can tune into what would be amazing about achieving your idea and write it down, the next important step is to ask yourself ‘what (even very small) thing could I do today to move myself closer to my goal?’ Do just that (often small) thing. Then ask yourself the same question the next day. And so on.
Of course, sometimes there will be big decisions too. But even those usually become less scary when you break them down into tiny, manageable chunks. Read just one page now. Schedule that first meeting. Make the next call. Make one decision.
3. Share the load
Kenneth told me he would have found it really hard to make a podcast on his own. But doing it with James brought not only different strengths, but also the advantages of sharing the load and being able to solve things together.
Even when your project would be best delivered just by you, there are still huge benefits to sharing it with someone who can help you get it over the line. This was a key insight I was given by Liz Tait, Director of Fundraising at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital Charity, when I interviewed her for our podcast about how to create a happy and rewarding career.
She shared that a key early breakthrough had been when she shared the kind of job she wanted to have in the future, with another person she trusted.
You don’t need to currently have a coach or mentor to do this. Just think of someone who you believe will be willing to check in and chat about your progress, for example, once a month for the next three months.
Note, some people advise that you share your idea with everyone, the more the merrier. Early on, I tend not to favour this approach, because I find that in practice, it increases the risk that your idea will evoke unintentionally pessimistic responses in people who care about you. You will pick up on this (well-meaning!) realism.
It’s often demoralising in the early stages to try to persuade people that your idea is possible, when you are still trying to believe in it yourself, and to figure out what it looks like.
4. Focus on intrinsic motivation
Throughout my conversation with Kenneth and James, it was obvious how much they like making their show. Kenneth even said, of course its nice to know that lots of people are listening, but that’s not the main point. For him, making the show, and enjoying the process of making the show, is the point.
Of course, the paradox is that the more they remember to have fun and not take themselves too seriously, the more likely the audience will enjoy it, people will listen, and that feedback helps them keep wanting to do the work. So they get pulled along to do the next steps, rather than start to resent the time it takes.
Although this sounds obvious, it’s all too easy for someone to start a blog / podcast / intention to regularly post on LinkedIn etc, and the motivation is entirely a means to an end, for example, the end of raising their profile.
I’m not saying we should not have a range of reasons for doing our Big Idea or side hustle. Its true that the best way to raise your profile and attract customers is to add value to your marketplace. But I am saying, if we want that idea or habit to last, the crucial thing is that we choose something that we can genuinely enjoy doing or are interested in, for intrinsic reasons.
For some people this might be blogging or regularly posting on LinkedIn. But if it’s not, find something that both adds value and that you would enjoy doing, even if only one person ever read it / listened etc.
I know this is not easy! But I’ve found the best way is to experiment with a range of things till you hit the sweet spot of achieving both. Then do that thing as consistently as you can.
5. Every journey starts with a single step. Start!
James shared that on that lunch in 2017, he was keen. But his first (reasonable) instinct was to take things steadily, getting some business cards written, get at least five episodes recorded before they actually launched etc.
Kenneth was keen to jump in and give it a go. Which is what they did. They created momentum and excitement by booking the first guests and releasing those first few episodes, and they took it from there.
Though for some projects it obviously makes sense to minimise risk by putting various essentials in place before you start, beware how tempting it is to want everything to be perfect before starting!
Once you’ve tried doing the thing, everything becomes more possible than when it was just an idea. You’re bound to learn something (even if it’s how not to do it) and it becomes easier to build momentum. Good luck! I’d love to know how you get on, so do let me know.
To listen to the full story with Kenneth and James, here’s the link.
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