Read Time: 5 minutes and 24 seconds.

Picture this.

A few weeks ago, you came up with a brilliant business idea to create your own card game. At the time, you thought it was a revolutionary idea as nothing of the sort existed on the market.

You thought about it carefully, signed up for a Canva account and got to work creating, designing and setting up your new card game. You’re filled with excitement as you’re certain that this idea is going to make you a millionaire.

Yet after a few weeks, you’ve lost all motivation. The card game is still in the process of creation, yet you’re not even close to finishing.

You’ve spent weeks working on the deck design, writing the rules and all of a sudden, it feels like too much effort. You don’t feel ready to take a leap of faith.

Feeling doubt creep in, you start to think about abandoning your idea and focusing harder on your job. After all, at least you can control how much you work in your job, but your business idea? That’s unknown territory.

Are you surprised by this outcome?

In this edition of The Path Toward Purpose we’re going to explore Taking the First Step: How-To Start When You Don't Feel Ready To Take A Leap of Faith - and why we often give up hope, when we’re unsure on how to get started on a new venture.

Let’s get into it…

 The Foundations of Taking A Leap of Faith

Courage does not always come naturally. You have to develop it consistently over time.

When you have a brilliant idea, the world suddenly seems a lot brighter. You can work all day and night without getting burned out. Yet in actuality, this is unsustainable. Eventually, your beginning motivation will run out of steam and you’ll begin to doubt yourself.

Often, getting started is the hardest part about taking a leap of faith. There can be a million things that you feel like you need to do, and this can create confusion, lack of clarity and fear on what the future may hold.

When fear begins to enter your mind, it can warp your perception of reality. What once felt exciting and a breath of freedom, becomes a dangerous prospect that you’ll do anything to avoid. This is where stagnation builds and how waiting to get started at the opportune time, will always work against you.

 The Mental Framework

Fear is a rational response to the unknown.

After all, if we didn’t feel fear, then we wouldn't have survival instincts and the human race would have died out a long time ago.

However, in the Modern Age, where we face little survival pressure due to the advancement of technology, our fear based response that has carried across Millennia of evolution, can be a major obstacle when we aspire towards our goals.

To cancel out Millennia of human psychology evolution is near impossible. Yet, there are action steps you can take to be aware of when it’s controlling your actions, so that you can take the right steps forward.

 How-To Apply This

To get started and build momentum before you’re ready, you must be very clear on what you need to acquire to be “ready”.

Readiness is merely a state of mind. When you’re clear on your vision and the steps you need to take, then it’s a lot easier to make progressive steps forward.

Here’s a method you can use:

Step 1.

Determine WHY it is that you’re not ready to take a leap of faith. List down every single possible objection that your mind can create on either a book, tablet or spreadsheet. Here are some common objections:

1. I’m not sure if my idea is going to be any good.

2. What will people think about my idea?

3. How can I do this if I’ve never tried it before?​

These are objections and thoughts I’ve gathered from a few clients. You’re not alone in this process. Everyone has fears, but if you want to move forward, you must face them.

Step 2.

Determine WHO is your obstacle that stops you from making a start.
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Are there people that stand in the way, or third parties that you’re reliant upon to move the needle forward?
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Or is it just yourself.
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If there are other people involved, then consider how you can communicate effectively about why progress is stalling and what you’d like to do about it.
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If it’s just yourself, then question yourself.
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“Are my objections reality, or am I making them up to procrastinate making progress?”

Step 3.

Determine WHEN you will actually get started.

Not a vague idea on your start date, but a legitimate deadline that you impose upon yourself. Get so clear that you have the date, the time and the location you will start. Make it so clear to yourself, that any lapse in accountability or lack of commitment to your word, is going to hurt.

This way, you’re not going to take the easy route out.

Step 4.

Determine WHAT stops you from feeling like you’re not ready.
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If you need more education, then create time to learn what you need.
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If you have the education, then create time to take action.
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If you have the action, but aren’t making progress, then question if your actions are intentional aligned to your overall goal.
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Without intention and a clear vision of what you want, there’s not going to be much progress made. If you would like a free tool to help you craft your vision, I have written The Visionary eBook to help you. My gift, to you.

🚀 Next Steps

Getting started before you feel ready is always going to be a terrifying prospect. The odds of success and failure are equal, but this is where it gets interesting. Because when you take a leap of faith, you now roll the dice of your fortunes.

If you choose to take no action and wait for the perfect moment to act, then ultimately, the pendulum swings towards failure. Action builds momentum, hesitancy builds inertia. You don’t want to find yourself stuck and doubting your ability to make progress. Take action, by questioning your mindset and separate fact from fiction.

You are ready.

Next time, I’m going to deconstruct an important myth about self-perception. I’ve been hearing from many clients that the flavour of the month is indecision and the lack of certainty on how to create a new identity for themselves. Newsletter #6 is going to be an exciting edition. I can’t wait to share it with you!