Don’t Wait Until You’re Perfect to Start, Start Because You’re Not

The Person You Think You Can Be Is Waiting For You On The Other Side

Starting Out

If you could have seen my first ever piece of writing that I proudly exclaimed was finished, you’d probably laugh. It was full of typos, spelling mistakes, lack of grammar and didn’t flow at all together.

The funny thing is I actually told friends (who I deeply admire) that I had finished a book. I even went as far as to send it to a few publishers where I thought they’d received their next best seller and was certain to hear the exciting news soon after.

It’s safe to say that I never heard back from them at all.

And for my friends, they did what friends do best and encouraged me. They didn’t really say anything about the writing itself (probably for the own humility) but more like, ‘wow, I still cant believe you finished a book!’

Even though I laugh at that writing now, it created the writing I write today. It gave me confidence in pressing the little publish button and to not be afraid of it. It gave me permission to finally admit to people that ‘I’m a writer’ and somewhat believe it, and it allowed me to learn, grow and discover just how much more learning and growing there is to do.

Without it, I would never know, and the two books that I have published since then may never have been published without the experience of what went before.

The other aspect of my life where I know this to be true is from my journey with breathwork, and more specifically in the sharing of breathwork.

When I started guiding sessions I had no idea. I knew that I loved it and felt its immense potential because I’d felt it myself, but transmitting that to someone else was a whole different ball game.

All I hoped was that the breath would guide the way. I never even thought about myself as a facilitator that would have to explain all the different parts of the technique and there benefits in an understandable, clear way, whilst making them feel free and comfortable enough to surrender and trust the expeirence. That all came later.

Without skidding in, off balance, unsure, full of excitement and wonder but with any backing whatsoever, I would never have gotten to the point that I’m at today.

That’s not to say I’m perfect. I’m still far from it. But I’m learning. I’m growing. I’m exploring and experimenting and pushing myself further than I ever imagined possible, and that’s enough for me right now.

What Is Perfection Anyway?

If we only rehearse, practise and theorise about how we’ll be whenever we do the thing we’re wanting to do, we’ll never really know the full extent of it because most of the learning comes from the doing.

That’s not to dismiss the organisation, the preparation, practise and study time it takes to really get ourselves ready, but that’s only a small fraction of it.

We don’t know who we’ll be when we’re speaking in public if we’ve only ever thought about it. We don’t know if we’ll feel nervous or anxious, if our heart will pound, if our throat we close, what we’ll say, how we’ll say it or how it will be received, and we don’t know how we’ll react if those feelings arise.

We can have the best inspirational speech memorised but if no-one hears it, what’s the point?

To get to the point where we’re fully embodied in whatever it is that we’re sharing, we must first step into fully. That means showing up, at first at least, uncut, raw and anything-but-perfect. No-one shows up perfect to start with, not even the most inspirational people we see today did at first. They all learnt what works for them and how they work by doing it. Only then, after a long time, are they great at what they do.

With experience comes wisdom. Without it, we have nothing to gauge ourselves with on what’s good, what works and what doesn’t. It’s all in the head.

Have the courage to see that you are learning, that you are growing and then an amazing thing often happens. We start appreciating that we’re not perfect because we’re moving closer towards it.

If you love what you do and share it authentically, people will enjoy it, whether it’s perfect or not. Enthusiasm and passion go a long way!

So share from where you’re at, as exactly the being you are right now and open up to the possibility that you’re on your way to the person you wish to become.

That person is waiting for you on the other side but we have to take the first step, and many more after that.

Take the leap, I promise you it’s worth it.