How To Get Nothing Done
I like it when things are organized. My parents have always been neat people, kept a very nice and clean home, had immaculate gardens and flower beds. My father is the ultimate researcher – never buys anything until he’s shopped around. I think he and Mom must have made a pact early on in their relationship that said they’d never buy anything unless both of them agree. Their discipline in that arena is amazing. I do remember my Dad’s credo, which he passed down to me, “if you find something you want to buy, but are not sure you can afford it, walk away. Then, the next day if you are still thinking about it, still want it and it still seems like a good idea, you will find a way to afford it – go ahead and buy it.” Good advice and I’ve used often, actually.
My Mom = the ultimate planner. She’s got the calendar by the phone, knows everyone’s birthday in her family (she’s one of nine kids and I have at least 25 cousins and they each have large families, too!). Planning an immediate family reunion is a breeze for her – she’s got all the meals figured out, what she can make ahead of time, lots of options for “grazing” during the day, etc. She can plan it so that we can go to the Nelson or World’s of Fun, or shopping on the Plaza and come home to a 15-minute prep time meal. She’s amazing. I can only HOPE that some of this has rubbed off on me.
What does this have to do with the title of this post, you might wonder? Well, I’ve recently discovered that some of this is good, while too much of this is not good. I can have the tendency to wait until everything is perfect, research things until I completely understand every nuance, and plan things out to the last minute detail. But, this can also cause me to sit in this same spot and spin…and spin…and spin…waiting for all the stars to align, for everything to be perfect, to eliminate any possible mistakes – - – and in the end, GET NOTHING DONE!
We (or shall I say, “I’) would be better off being comfortable with messy. I need to be willing to learn as I go sometimes. I want to start something and not know how it’s going to come together in the end. I want to head off in the general direction, say West, and not have a plan as to where I’m heading or where I’ll lay my head down at night. I want to feel risky and the adrenaline of doing something simply because I can’t NOT do it anymore.
Well, my friends, welcome to the world of non-profits!!! We started MINDDRIVE on a good idea. A really good idea, that while not sporting a long track record, has worked out in many ways along this journey, by luck and skill and the combination of opportunity meeting an idea whose time has come. We are working with a group of urban teens, along with adult mentors, on an experiential learning project – - – building an electric car – - -teaching concepts in technological innovation, aerodynamics, light-weight efficiencies, battery power capabilities, and more.
We’ve scraped together a little bit of money, not a lot. We’ve made a lot of phone calls and asked a lot of people and companies to believe in us, to buy us the tools we need, provide us the space we need, to equip us with the teachers and mentors we need, and to trust us with their students. We decided that at some point you just have to pull the trigger and know that everything is going to work out in the end…even if it’s a little messy.
We are coming up on week 3 of our 18-week class and we are hitting our stride. We’ve done the research, we know what we are going to accomplish, we have a roadmap of where we are going and guess what – it’s GETTING DONE!!! We know that we will need to continue to foster new funding sources, recruit new mentors and promote our program along the way. It will probably get messy again. But for now, it just feels really good to be moving forward. I can’t wait to see how it will all turn out! We are in week 3 and the body of the car will begin to take shape.
To follow along on the progress of our class, visit www.minddrive.org and LIKE us on Facebook.
My advice is to just jump in and start something. Don’t know how it will come together and it’s even better if the odds are against you – as long as you are passionate about it, it will be beautiful, and it will work out in the end. Because it always works out in the end…And, if it’s not worked out, it’s not the end!
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