You don’t have to have it all together to start that project, that business, that career transition or that personal pursuit.
You might be short time.
You might be short money.
You might be short experience.
You might be short clarity.
You might be short confidence.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
But you’ll never be short the option to begin.
It may be small, under-resourced and only a sliver of what you know you’re capable of, but that’s ok. We all start somewhere and we can all start today.
It doesn’t have to be grand, you don’t need to know where it will take you long term, and you don’t have to lock yourself in for life, nor do you have to race to the finish line.
You can just start with a step (and that’s about all we’re up for these days, am I right?).
Instead of worrying about all the things you wish you had access to (more time, more money, more energy…) or comparing yourself to everyone else who’s further ahead down the path, ask yourself this (inspired by Theodore Roosevelt):
What can I do today, where I am, with what I have?
There’s always something you can do now. There’s always a way to begin.
Now, go do that thing – today preferably. And please, do it imperfectly and with delight.⠀⠀⠀⠀
That’s where you start. You can figure out the rest as you go and as you learn. You don’t have to see the whole path to begin; the first few steps will do.
Steph (she/her)
x
p.s. Join me in April for a 4-part Leadership Lab workshop series on how to Communicate with Confidence. If you struggle knowing what to say and how to say it well, this Lab is for you. Learn more and register here.
💡 FRESH, HAND-PICKED RESOURCES
Curated links from around the web to help you work well, live well and lead well.
Oh I am 100% sure I’ve shared this before, but it’s one of those videos we all need to watch at least once a year. And it fits so well with the letter above, and our explorations inside LEAD.Well around perfectionism. When we start something new, it usually isn’t very good – and we know it. That can be hard to reconcile, especially as we watch others 10 steps ahead. Ira Glass reminds us that this is how it should be in this piece called The Gap.
Big things start small: How Substack sparked its early community of writers. An interesting podcast episode from Get Together outlining Substack’s beginnings (a newsletter tool for those unfamiliar). I like hearing these origin stories, because they remind me that while Substack is a well-known brand NOW, they didn’t start that way. Good things take time, and begin with a few small steps.
“If you want to summarize the habits of successful people into one phrase, it’s this: successful people start before they feel ready.” That’s James Clear talking about his meeting with Richard Branson and what he learned from him: namely, to start before you’re ready.
This was a thoughtful discussion about what things might look and feel like as we start to transition toward a little more normalcy. I’ve been thinking a lot about what parts of this past year I’d like to keep, and also what I’ve learned. More on that later. In the meantime, listen in to the Pantsuit Politics hosts talk about “Post-traumatic growth” (with Dr. Karla Vermeulen).
Can we please, for the love of everything good in the world, start normalizing the idea of rest without guilt? When we say we’ll take time to rest, but we remain hooked in at work, we don’t ever give our bodies and brains the opportunity to truly recover. Hello inevitable burnout. You deserve to rest, regularly.
This made me laugh out loud. Some New Yoga Classes We’ve Added to the Schedule. I think I need them all.
The greatest danger to our future is apathy.
~Jane Goodall
🌱 INSIDE LEAD.Well:
You are welcome to jump into LEAD.Well at any time, and enjoy the conversation, content and community of like-minded women exploring and growing in their own leadership
Here’s what we’re up to in LEAD.Well:
- Perfection Interruption 10-day challenge (ongoing)
- Leader Retreat on March 26th. Get ready for Q2 with a clear 90-day plan.
- Leadership Lab: Communicate with Confidence – April 13, 15, 20 & 22
If you love my Leadership Letters, LEAD.Well offers you deeper analysis, behind-the-scenes insights, a private podcast feed, monthly events and a growing Leadership Resource Hub filled with my best tools and recommendations
Learn more and join us here.
💥 THE WEEK IN A GIF
Still recovering from the Daylight Savings changeover this week. I. AM. SO. TIRED. — Also, there is a Schitts Creek gif for absolutely everything. I’m here for it.
