I heard the phrase, ‘start before you’re ready’, the other day. At first, it seemed counter intuitive.  Upon further evaluation, it seems pretty much every endeavor starts this way. If we had to be fully prepared before we acted than nothing would get done. Sometimes we must jump in and figure things out along the way.

Preparation is important, but not mandatory

Being prepared can stop us from looking the fool. Preparation is key for a job interview, public speaking or leading a group of people. However, it can also be a lame excuse. The phrase “but I’m not ready” is often a crutch we use to stay within our comfort zone. In the end, we need to know the difference between being prepared and using it as an excuse not to act.

Everything’s figure-outable

It’s often the mystery in life that keeps us moving. If we wait until we’ve figured everything out before we act, there’d be little motivation to start. Even before the internet age, people figured things out along the way. Think about the industrial revolution, renaissance period, civil rights, raise of democracy and our planet moving from stone age to bronze age to iron age to our current technological age.

Like my mom always said: God gave you a brain, why don’t you use it!

And now, thanks to the internet, we have access to information never dreamed of just a decade earlier. Thanks to video sharing sites, we can access tutorials on pretty much anything. If you need a chart, graph, manual, tech specs or a mathematical conversion it’s all there for your convenience. And if the information is not there, it’s still possible to figure things out on your own.

 Stop making excuses

Stop waiting for the perfect opportunity to start. It’s called procrastination which usually never ends well. To start before you’re ready means getting up and moving towards our goals. Even if we don’t feel ready!