Imagine if a toddler waited until he was confident in walking before he started to try walking. What if he suffered from overthinking before he started taking action?
The self-conscious toddler may ask himself, “What if try walking and I’m bad at it? What if the other toddlers laugh at me for my novice walking ability? What if I try walking and it doesn’t work? Or worse…what if I try walking, and I’m so good at it that others will expect me to walk all the time?!”
We don’t see this “analysis paralysis” in toddlers.
What we do see is toddlers mustering up the courage to wobbly stand on their feet for half a second and then plop down…and they’ll do this again…and again. They will do this countless times. Each time they take action, they learn something, which then reveals the next action step. Now they know how it feels to be balanced. Now, it’s time to try putting one foot in front of the other. Then, they’ll fall…lesson learned. Then, they’ll get up and try again.
Eventually, after taking multiple small actions over and over, confidence will be gained. The toddler can be able to claim with confidence, “I can walk!”
Confidence is NOT what the toddler needed to learn how to walk. He needed the COURAGE to consistently take action before he felt ready.
What are YOU working on? Your health? Your business? Your career?
Stop waiting until you’re ready to take action. Stop waiting until you’re confident to move forward because CONFIDENCE IS A RESULT, NOT A REQUIREMENT TO TAKE ACTION. YOU DON’T NEED CONFIDENCE. YOU NEED THE COURAGE TO TAKE ACTION CONSISTENTLY.
The confidence will come the more times you take action toward your goal.
So stop waiting. Be bold. Be courageous. And just take the next immediate action step. WHAT’S POSSIBLE FOR YOU IF YOU TAKE ACTION BEFORE YOU FEEL READY?
Take action before you “feel 100% ready”. The truth is, if it doesn’t scare you a little bit, it’s not that important to you.
Leave a Reply