Begin Before You’re Ready

Kris Evergreen here. Monday. And this morning’s thought is one I have to relearn about four times a year: begin before you’re ready.

Ready is a moving target. There’s always one more thing to research, one more condition to wait for, one more version of you — slightly more rested, slightly more prepared — who would surely do this better. That version doesn’t arrive. What arrives is more waiting.

The people who build things aren’t the ones who felt ready. They’re the ones who started anyway and got ready as they went. Readiness, it turns out, is mostly a product of beginning — not a prerequisite for it. You learn the job by doing the job. You become the person who can do the thing by doing the thing badly first.

So: the thing you’ve been waiting to feel ready for? Take the first ten percent of it today. Not the whole leap. Just the step. Ready will catch up with you.

Readiness is mostly a product of beginning, not a prerequisite for it. Start, and ready will catch up.

What have you been waiting to feel ready for that you could just begin today?