The other day, I heard a super-helpful Steven Pressfield quote:

“Start before you’re ready.”

What a great reminder, Steven! This quote is the perfect nudge for me, and I’d love to explain why…

This concept of leaping ahead always reminds me of when I was working with families at Yale University. At the time, I was taking photos for the Yale Men’s Lacrosse Team, and part of my job was to write marketing emails to the parents of–as we say in New England–“Wicked smaht kids!” Team, given my undiagnosed dyslexia, there was no doubt in my mind that every one of those emails I wrote had at least one spelling or grammatical error that I would never catch. But I never would have moved forward if I hadn’t just closed my eyes, hit “send,” and let it go.

When I’m locked in this fear of putting things into the world before they’re “perfect,” one question helps to get me unstuck: What’s the goal, Mags? Is your goal to win email awards for your perfect spelling and grammar, or is your goal to share lasting memories of a magical time in these young men’s lives?  

Do you guys remember me talking about this in “How I Stay Motivated to Workout?” Team, I waited for years thinking a day would come along when I’d want to work out. Guess what? In case you don’t have time to listen to that episode—that day never came! But that doesn’t mean I haven’t worked out in the last three decades; it just means I have had to put those sneaks on and bounce! Again, the goal isn’t to like walking. The goal is to feel good, and walking achieves that goal. 

“Start before you’re ready” is quotation gold for someone like me. As a recovering perfectionist, my brain is always telling me there’s a little more I can do to polish her up and get her ready before sending her out into the world. But now I remind myself that “feeling ready” isn’t the goal. The goal is to MOVE FORWARD. 

Next week, I’m so excited to share something with everyone that I’ve been working on. My email subscribers, a.k.a. our TeamConfessioners, (not to be confused with my podcast subscribers, who just get the podcast, not all of my extra content). My email subscribers, will be receiving a FREE .pdf in their subscriber email next week entitled: “40 Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery.” These prompts are a perfect companion to what we’re chatting about next week. I’m going to be sharing the 10 foundational pillars that have guided my personal development journey. So if you haven’t SUBSCRIBED to Confessions through my website yet, be sure to join TeamC so you too can get your FREE Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery. Until then…!