Start Before You’re Ready

Start before you’re ready.

“Start before you are ready” was one of the things I learned early on and have applied with wild vigor. It’s one of those mantras I scream from the hills, and from a soapbox now and then. It is something all of us need to hear, again and again. Even me.

For you are never ready. You are never 100% sure. You are never positive.

You will feel doubt, or fear, or insecurity.

It will seem like “now” is not the right time.

Your mind will find something to make you feel like you need to put on the breaks.

That is when you need to re-frame your mind. You need to start, and you need to start now. Ready or not.

Close your eyes and jump

When I was a kid I can remember thinking “I needed to close my eyes and jump. Stop thinking about it, and just do it.”

Whether it was standing up for what I thought was right, starting a new activity, speaking in front of people (eek!)   I needed to close my eyes and just do it.

What a smart little cookie I was, now that I look back.

Start before you are ready

Marie Forleo, a great mentor of mine, really drew this back into my head as an adult. “Start before you’re ready,” she said. I heard it and felt instant familiarity.

I thought wow, I’ve done this already.

And I knew I needed to do it more!
Not just like a kid needing to be brave, but as a business owner needing to take the next step, an entrepreneur needing to spend money on a course, as a mom teaching and guiding my kiddos, as an introvert needing to climb out of my shell more often.

It was energizing to hear people like Marie, who are in my eyes successful, say she still has doubts and fear. Who, like me, needs to stop her inner chatter and just start. Just take ACTION.

“Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.”

-Vaibhav Shah

We all need to take ACTION

You see, starting something by taking REAL action (not planning in your head), is the only way to get what you want.

Without action, you are never going to get anywhere.

You can’t figure things out in your head—you figure them out by doing. By taking ACTION.
You don’t become an expert by reading about a skill – you become an expert by practice. By taking ACTION.

If you hold yourself back because you don’t feel ready, then you have quit before you even begun. And you are not a quitter.

Big dreams take action. Little dreams take action. Getting out of bed in the morning takes action.  Sometimes we don’t feel quite ready, but we plant our feet on the ground, stand up and take that first step.

And then the next.

TAKE ACTION!

Now it is your turn to take action. What is that one thing you have been wanting to do, but somehow talked yourself out of?  What is that one thing you really want, but it just hasn’t felt like the right time?  Make that first step. It doesn’t have to be huge, it just has to move you forward.

What is it you want to do, and what is the one step you are going to take this week. You get bonus points if you plan the NEXT step too!

Until next time,

Torie Mathis

Here’s to creating the life you LOVE!