Do it Badly. Do it Slowly. Do it Anyway You Have To — But Do It.

The professional writer is an amateur who just didn't quit," says Richard Bach. While “The amateur sits around and waits for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work,” says Stephen King.

One does not need to be good at a thing in order to begin, one just needs to begin.

Whatever book one is writing now, is probably the hardest book to write. Whatever book one just finished writing is probably the hardest book ever written. Whatever book one cannot begin, is probably the hardest book one will ever write.

The secret is to begin. To stop aspiring, and just write. "There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know until he takes up the pen to write," says William Thackeray.

At the rate of one page a day, it takes a year to write a novel. At the rate of one paragraph a day, it takes 2.5 years. At the rate of two sentences a day, it takes five years. One sentence a day, ten. No matter how badly written it is, or how long it will take, the act of beginning and persisting to the end will see it done.

The man of action does not talk about the thing he is about to do, for talking weakens his will and fills his mind with a false sense of accomplishment. "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing," says Walt Disney.

"It is a temptation that exists for everyone," adds Ryan holiday, "for talk to replace action.” Nor, adds Bruce Lee, should you spend too much time thinking and not doing, for “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.”

Do it badly; do it slowly; do it fearfully, do it anyway you have to, but do it.

Jane Austen is celebrated as one of the greatest novelists in English literature. But her manuscripts were riddled with so many errors that her editor had her submissions heavily edited to sort out the mess of her work. "Austen's unpublished manuscripts unpick her reputation for perfection in various ways,” says Professor Kathryn Sutherland, who studied 1,100 original handwritten pages of Austen's unpublished writings. “We see blots, crossings out, messiness - we see creation as it happens, and in Austen's case, we discover a powerful counter-grammatical way of writing. She broke most of the rules for writing good English," she says.

She did not wait until she had perfected grammar and prose before she began, she just simply began. “You cannot wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club,” says Jack London.

Fleming, the author of the James Bond franchise would often write non-stop and wouldn't worry too much about what he put down or how he put it, for he could always edit it later, he reasoned. The important thing was getting it done.

Stallone began writing “Rocky” while broke and living in an 8ft room which was so small that he could open his window and his door without getting off his bed. He did not wait until he had the budget to fund his movie, he just simply began. His draft was eventually edited several more times before it made the cut.

“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better,” says Oprah Winfrey.

For all endeavors worth doing begin by doing. Just like the stumbling toddler learning to walk, so are we when trying something new.

The master was also once the student, and the more he did the more he could do. The more knowledge and experiences he gained the more capable he became. He kept trying until he got better. One does not need to have everything in place before he begins.

In Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, the distance runners train on open Savannas and dusty roads for want of a rubber track. So too do the Jamaican track athletes who, for lack of ready infrastructure, get their training done on grass fields.

The wrestlers of Senegal — when not able to afford weights and a barbells — use steel poles and concrete tins as substitutes. The Nordic strongmen use boulders and logs of trees.

Let no man complain for want of opportunity. Don’t wait for opportunities. Find them. Create them. Make the best use of them.

“If you wait for everything to be perfect before taking action… you’ll never take the first step” writes Gail Goodwin.

Carpe Diem (seize the day) should be the mantra for any individual who wants to succeed in life. “Things may come to those who wait,” says Abe Lincoln, “but only the things left by those who hustle.”

Successful men have not reached the pinnacle of their careers by stepping back and waiting for an opportunity to present itself. They, step forward and make it happen. Man maketh the opportunity, opportunity does not maketh the man.

The effective man begins, no matter what the circumstances, and his victory is ever sweeter because of the difficulty he has had to endure in order to attain it.

Read more in my new book! The Trials And Triumphs of Hyperachievers