When we are facing a hard task or a project that holds a lot of uncertainty for us, we often balk at the start.
Instead of just diving in, we decide we need to:
- do a bunch of research,
- prepare ourselves,
- take some courses, or
- buy some books —
something in order to get ourselves ready.
None of these are bad things!
- Learning,
- research,
- preparing —
all are nice things to do. But we’re hoping they’ll help us to feel ready — and the moment when we feel ready will never come.
Let me repeat that: You will never feel ready. It just doesn’t happen. I remember talking to someone who signed up for 20 courses on writing over a decade. He still didn’t feel ready to start writing.
The Cost of Waiting for Readiness
What I’m encouraging you to notice is that waiting to feel ready is a form of avoidance. And it leads to opportunity cost —
- if we had started a year or two earlier,
- we would have learned so much more, and
- we’d be so much further along.
Start Before You Feel Ready
So instead, I always encourage people to start before you feel ready:
- Take action.
- Learn through doing.
- Summon the courage to take the leap into the unknown.
We will never feel ready to leap into the unknown. But in fact, we’re always ready.
We gain the confidence through experience:
- through trying and failing, and
- learning to deal with the failures.
We gain trust in ourselves through this process of falling and getting up —
trust that we can deal with anything!
So:
- start today.
- Commit yourself.
- Take the smallest first step.
Right now is the perfect time.
Jump in, even if you don’t feel ready. This is how we begin to create change.
