Lisa LeBlancThere will never be the perfect time to start anything.
We are taught as we grew up that there were right and wrong times to do things. We always look for the perfect time to start everything. School starts in September. Monday is the start of the week. Don’t start having a snack right before dinner. Who decided these things?
If we set a goal of doing something consistently for a month we’d be inclined to start at the beginning of the month, not on the 5th. The concept of right or wrong start times has been ingrained in our minds for our whole lives. Think about starting a new diet. Would you ever choose to start right before a vacation or would you wait until after? What I want to offer is that there is really no truth to there being a right or wrong time to start something.
There is no right or wrong time
This is true whether you are starting a business, having a child, changing careers, losing weight, or wrestling with any number of challenges. If you are starting something that your brain thinks could be hard it will look for any way to put you off. You’ll hear yourself thinking all kinds of things that keep you from starting. You should get organized before you start or you should wait for the start of the month to write out a monthly plan. You should be making more money before having a child or wait until your first child is older before having the second. Who really decides what is right and what is wrong?
You get to choose, you decide
To succeed at the goals you set you will need to learn how to override the thoughts that come up if they slow you down from getting started. You get to choose to just start, you decide. So often we put things off until the right time and then we just never start at all. Waiting until after vacation, while seemingly well-intentioned, leads to waiting until the start of the next week, next month, or how about the big one – the New Year! At some point, you get to embrace the uncertainty of it being the right time to start because while it’s the hardest part it’s also the only path forward.
If you were ready for it, it wouldn’t be growth.
This was a message I paraphrased from James Clear and I feel that it is so true. I offer to you that being ready is a choice or decision you make, based on the story you tell yourself right now. If you think that you are too busy, then you will not see ways to fit this new goal into your life. However, if you decide that it’s happening and go to work figuring out how to make it happen then you’ll have different results.
So what are YOU waiting for?
What dream or goal do you have that you haven’t gone after yet?
If getting started is something that has held you back we can talk and find a way forward for you. I can help. Keep reading for some steps to get you started today.
With a specific goal in mind I suggest you go through the following steps:
1. Why not now?
One thing you can do to see what is holding you back is to ask yourself questions. Read my article, using this link, on asking the right questions for more about that. For this situation though you can ask yourself simply; “Why not now?”. Make a list of all the reasons you have for waiting to start on this goal. Dig deep and come up with all of them.
- I’m not ready
- I don’t know how
- I don’t have time
- It’s too hard
2. Is this true?
Now for each answer ask yourself “Is this true?” I want you really question if it’s actually true. If your best friend told you their goal and their reason for not starting would you agree that this was true?
3. Turn it around
Next, you turn each one around and see how true that feels. Write out the opposite statement. Think about how possible this new sentence could be for you?
- I’m ready
- I do know how
- I do have time
- It’s not too hard (it could be easy)
The perfect time to start is now
If you are still reading this then I urge you to go make a plan. Go through my 3 step process to let go of the reasons not to start. There will never be a perfect time, except NOW to take a step forward towards your next goal.
