Just Do It – the Ethos of Zero State
What’s the difference between a dotcom billionaire and thousands of others who had the same idea at the same time, or even earlier? The answer is that the billionaire implemented the idea and the others did not.
Well, that’s a bit simplistic but nevertheless contains a lot of truth. Ideas are NOT “The Big Thing”- implementing them is. Ideas are ten a penny, as are the people who come up with them. Putting them into action, putting in the work to make them real, is the rare skill.
How often have you heard, or read, of someone saying “…something must be done”, or “why doesn’t somebody do something…”? Most people who want to see change stop at that point. It does not occur to them to actually do it themselves, or if they cannot do it themselves, get some likeminded people together to help.
This is not usually the result of laziness or incompetence but conditioning. We are trained throughout our entire lives not to do things unless sanctioned by a Higher Authority or peer group pressure. It starts during our very first day at school, where we have to put up our hand and ask permission to go to the toilet. It starts with the safetly of the crowd, with our natural desire to fit in and not offend those around us. It starts with being taught not to cross the road when the light is red – the penalty for failure is death. It starts when we are first shown that there are people in charge, that they know more than us and they have more power than us.
Which is fine for a child, but the habit of doing nothing, of asking permission and waiting for someone else to do what is necessary, becomes ingrained in the adult. Those who overcome that instinct early in their adult lives become the leaders in all spheres of Human activity. They are the politicians, entrepreneurs, business leaders and revolutionaries.
The first step to becoming any of those, apart from wanting to join the club, is recognizing the source of this social paralysis in ourselves and consciously fighting against it.
That’s why the Zero State ethos of the title. If you think that someone would be interested in joining ZS, invite them. It does not matter who they are, or how “important” they appear to be, or how “lowly” you feel in the apparent hierarchy of ZS. Just do it. Same if you have an idea you think might be useful. If you can do it yourself, just do it. If you need help, ask. The result being that your work becomes a feature of the ZS enterprize with your name tagged to it (assuming of course, its not totally evil). You literally make your name this way, not only in ZS but the world in general.
So, bear this in mind every time one of these phrases enters your mind:
“Why doesn’t somebody…”
“Someone ought to…”
“I have a good idea…”
Finally, it does not matter how young you are. Better to take a risk and be wrong than take no risk and be a 100% guaranteed failure. Maybe 99% of ideas you have will fail, but that last 1% is what counts.
Just do it.
