No More Minor League

Start as big and as grandiose as possible. Scale back only if absolutely necessary. And define “necessary” very narrowly.

It’s the same logic that governs my stylist’s approach to trimming my bangs. “We can always take more off, but we can’t add it back on.” Truth. You can keep cutting and sanding and planing (different from planning) until you get your big idea or goal into a manageable form, but when you get used to a steady diet of small potatoes, it’s damn hard to imagine anything beyond baby steps and the crumbs from someone else’s table. You doubt your talent or reach or ambition could stretch any further than the end of your nose and you think that big league success is for big league people and that sweeping visions are for suckers. But it isn’t about big league people – it’s about people who see something or imagine something and their head or heart says, “WANT” and their brain says, “Okay, how?” Not “No.” Not “Get real.” Not “As if.” Maybe they can have what they want in a modified form (a slice of Boston cream pie vs. the whole cake) or maybe they’ll have to wait six months before they can have it or maybe it will require recruiting collaborators to accomplish it, but the idea itself and the sheer scope of their own ambition doesn’t scare these people away. It just starts them scheming.

It’s not about going big or going home. It’s about going big and then going home to figure out how to pull it off. And remembering that your hair will definitely shrink when it dries.