You’re Not Ready, Do it Anyway

A lesson on jumping before you have the wings to fly.

No one asked if I was an author before I wrote my first article, I just sat down and typed. Sure I was concerned about my grammar and content, but I wrote anyway. There was so much to say! All cooped up in my head, the prompts kept multiplying and ideas flew around, never quite connecting to one another, but there they were. Lists were my starting point and the goal was publishing. At first, the only thing I could manage was listing catchy titles. Eventually half-written blogs started to fill a folder labeled “wellness warrior” and once the courage was summoned to complete ideas I was then faced with the daunting prospect of sharing it all with strangers.

I knew that waiting for the perfect idea or insightful writing workshop would only delay the journey to that finish line. I knew I didn’t need a degree in english to write an article. I had so much contempt for the self-doubt swirling through my head keeping me from sharing my story. Was it going to be good enough? Will other people like it? Couldn’t someone else say it better? I realized I was never going to be completely ready, I just had to jump in.

Be honest with yourself, how many times have you delayed a task because it felt overwhelming? How many times have you put off a passion project due to self-doubt?

I freely admit my guilt in both scenarios, multiple times.

Sometimes we need to be like Nike and ‘just do it’. Stop guessing, stop hypothesizing outcomes and running theoretical numbers to gauge success. No one can guarantee business will flourish, your worth is not dependent on the validation your work attains, and you have the right to try. Just get whatever brain child of an idea you have out there into the world!

Granted, this is much easier said than done, especially if you’re dealing with a perfectionist mindset that won’t let you think about starting a project until you have every means necessary to complete it at your fingertips. It’s difficult, but not out of reach. The capacity to loosen restrictions on what is ‘perfect’ or ‘good enough’ is within you- it might be deep down- but it’s there! You have the power to create the wiggle room needed to choose that what you create is worth existing. You have the capacity to know what feels genuine and authentic to your voice.

Opening my mind to the possibility of ‘maybe’ has massively helped starve the voice that enjoys telling me failure is inevitable. I’ve found that personal affirmations only go so far and, where they end, the negative voice hops in laughing with a reminder that I’m not good enough. At first the message will state that I’m inadequate as a writer. Then a hop, skip, and short jump away my mind has morphed this fleeting message into an all consuming feeling of not being good enough as a person.

Instead of attempting to push those thoughts away let’s accept them! Acceptance of the negative thoughts doesn’t mean you like them, it’s simply providing a space to exist instead of shoving them into a pile of feelings you don’t want to deal with.

Acknowledge what messages you are receiving and send them back with the possibility of maybe. Using ‘maybe’ allows our mind to create openness to alternate outcomes. Let’s dispel some common thoughts by re-writing with acceptance of the negative without discrediting possible success:

This idea is awful.

Okay, it could be awful, but maybe it’ll be great.

I’m going to fail this test, why even try?

Alright, maybe you’ll pass, so study anyway. Any percentage is better than zero.

My message won’t resonate with anyone.

Sure, that’s possible, but maybe it will. Share it just in case. Your story could teach someone a lesson or raise awareness and support. Either way, you won’t know until it’s out there.

So here I am making progress. I’m not keeping my thoughts to myself and certainly not letting the fear of imperfection get in the way of making my voice heard. Look, I wrote an article!

Now I pass the torch on to you. You can already do whatever you set your mind to, but that first step must be taken. This critical moment comes from you and your capacity to believe that just maybe you can accomplish even the hardest of tasks and reach the most daunting goals.

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