You don’t need to ready, you only need to be willing — Kara Payton
It has never been about being unafraid, ready or enough. That is putting the goal/target/finish line SO much further away from you. So far that it remains on the list, remains in your resolutions, remains untouched. You may NEVER be unafraid, you may NEVER feel ready and you may NEVER have all the mental pieces to feel good enough, qualified enough or smart enough to step up.
Luckily it is so much simpler than that. You don’t need ANY of that. You literally only need to be willing to tie the shoes, make the call, finish the book, launch the site, say yes or make the move.
THAT is what qualifies you. Taking the step IS what qualifies you as ready. That’s what tells your psyche that you are unafraid, ready and enough. The rest is a pile of fluff to pad your excuses. You know you could be taking action now. You know that first and then tell the story. The story comes after. When you are facing the moment to take action and you doubt…the story you have repeated to yourself over and over floods in. Because it feels better, it’s familiar, it means you don’t have to act now, put yourself out there or risk falling.
Here’s the hole in the logic though, NO one at the top made it WITHOUT falling. They just took the step that qualified them. Who you’re looking at as “further along/higher up” had the same struggle. The difference is they moved anyway. That’s it. They didn’t chart a course complete with some winding tangent that provided them with valuable information to start that you don’t have. We all do this the same unglamorous, clumsy, misstepped, one step forward and two steps back way.
So scratch up some self-compassion, seat yourself in the front row as your biggest fan and tell yourself a new story. One that starts with, “I know you can do this and I’ve got your back.”
Qualify yourself. Get in the arena.
You don’t get ready to take the first step. The first step makes you ready
Originally published at https://www.karapayton.com on August 12, 2021.
