Not If Only But Despite
In 1993 I wrote, designed and published my first book. I wrote and published one more book and then I started my first company and eventually started blogging.
And that pretty much sums up my career as a writer.
But in 1993 I was pretty serious about writing and my books. The whole thing suited me well. People like writers. There is a romantic side to the whole writers thing that attracts, ehm, people.
Anyway, when I was a semi-official writer I often spoke to people who told me they were going to write a book too.
Maybe.
One day.
If they saved enough money to take a year off.
Because they wanted to do it right.
Or not at all.
I don’t believe they ever did write that book, took that year off and did it right. A lot of people are very good in implementing If Onlys for themselves. If Only…
…I would have enough money
…I had more visitors
…I was a little bit more lucky
…my boss would give me more resources
…I would have been a bit earlier
…that other guy wouldn’t have stolen my idea
…we would have more funding
…my laptop wouldn’t have crashed
These days I speak to a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. They tell me they dream of becoming an entrepreneur and quiting their jobs.
But Only If.
For an entrepreneur there are no If Onlys. Only Despites.
Despite…
…the fact that we didn’t have any money
…the competition
…the fact that we had NO resources
…the weather, our health and the fact that my hair was on fire
…the circumstances
Despite whatever comes on your way you do what you gotta do to get things done.
No If Only/But/When/Only If.
No excuses, no way out.
Only possibilities, in spite of reality.
Despite becomes Because.
Limitations are Circumstances.
Not If Only But Despite.
So tell me, are YOU an ‘If Only’ or a ‘Despite’ person?
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April 24, 2007 @ 9:44 pm (21:44)
If only: if only we hadn’t started Hyves I would have written a book! :-) What was your book about?
April 24, 2007 @ 9:48 pm (21:48)
Raymond: so ‘Despite’ the fact that you wanted to be a writer you became a successful internet entrepreneur? I’ll blog about the book another time. If Only I can find the time…
April 24, 2007 @ 10:13 pm (22:13)
eh…yes that’s correct too. :-))
erwin blom said,
April 24, 2007 @ 10:59 pm (22:59)
Despite the fact that no one had broadband internet we started broadbandsites to be ready for the right moment, despite the fact no one had digital tv we started digital channels to be ready for the right moment, etcetera. Despite the fact we had no time we released 4 YouTube channels in a week ;)
Erwin Blom
Vpro
erwin blom said,
April 24, 2007 @ 11:10 pm (23:10)
Despite the fact that Hyver stopped Twittering, despite the fact that some people only use Twitter to point to blogposts, i like Twitter.
April 25, 2007 @ 8:21 am (8:21)
Despite the fact that MijnOpenID.nl is non profit I keep pouring time and energy in it! :-)
Sjors said,
April 25, 2007 @ 11:31 am (11:31)
If only there where no Boris, I would have become Internet Zillionair ages ago ;)
April 26, 2007 @ 2:29 pm (14:29)
[...] Veldhuijzen van Zanten of the recent Fleck.com remarked that getting into business is a question of not if only but despite. And on that note, let me add what I think getting into business is [...]