I remember going on a weekend getaway to the Okanagan a few years ago. 

She tried convincing me that we could make pasta at the Airbnb. I politely suggested, “…or we could just buy takeout,” because although my favourite pastime is reading cookbooks, when it comes to actually getting down to the craft, I believed my skill level capped out at pouring hot water into a cup of noodles. 

I eventually agreed because she’s a hell of a brilliant marketer. We bought flour, eggs, tomatoes and pesto sauce and returned to the house. 

We cleaned and lightly floured the kitchen counter, and all it took to make the dough was an egg and a small mound of flour. From the moment I started making the dough to when I had the noodles ready to put into the boiling pot of water, the prep time was less than ten minutes. I also learned handmade pasta cooks much quicker than store-bought processed pasta; our meal was ready after we added the pesto sauce and topped it off with cherry tomatoes. 

My mind had me convinced that making pasta was supposed to be an arduous task; therefore, I never tried it. Amongst my numerous excuses, such as “it would take too much time” and “we would have to buy so many ingredients.” These myths were quickly refuted in a matter of minutes once I tried out the activity. It wasn’t that hard. In fact, it wasn’t hard. 

Now, that’s not to say that achievements are all easy. Some are hard—physically and mentally challenging. When you’re at the foot of the mountain, it feels impossible to reach the peak. I fondly recall the time I completed a 4-hour hike on a steep and rocky trail. As I took the gondola down, staring at the mountain’s stony facade, I thought proudly, “I did that.” There will be varying difficulties in life, but the biggest problem is often getting over your fear of getting started and seeing the activity through to the end. As they say, everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Many things in life are similar to these small snippets. Many aspiring entrepreneurs I speak to think of starting a business as insurmountable. 

“Where would I even begin?” They ask.

“Go to this website and search for a business name. Then, take this name and register a business under this name by filling out two sets of template forms. Pay the registration fee, and you’ll receive the digital certificate in your email in a few minutes.” 

It really is that easy. But you would only know this if you took action. Sitting there fearing how hard a task is has never gotten anything done, and it will never get anything done. The roadblocks, barriers, obstacles, whatever you want to call them, are fabricated by your imagination. It’s a myth—let yourself be the one to bust it.