Say YES Even When You Are Not Ready

The thing is, you may never feel ready, so why not just do it anyway.

Last week, one of my colleagues whom I worked a decade back, reached out to me to help her start an online writing journey.

I spoke to her and shared what I did and how I started.

Within a day she was able to create a Substack newsletter and started posting online. I was so happy and impressed that it didn’t take time for her to take an action.

It took me months to publish my first post. I was fearful, sacred of rejections, trolls, and what not.

I loved it when she chose to say yes to the things that scare her and something deep inside stuck with me.

Realization

I started to wonder — what would happen if we push the our limits of what we believe we’re capable of, even just a little bit?

After powering through my fair share of challenging situations and scary, riskier decisions, I’ve noticed a pattern.

While it’s much easier to sit back and not push myself, it’s also much more boring and unsatisfying than putting yourself out there, taking risks, and discovering the world and yourself.

I’ve found that the things that scared me the most, have been the best things I could have done for myself.

And I’m sure that if you start to do the same, you’ll notice it, too.

The thing is, you may never feel ready, so why not just do it anyway.

Fear and Rejections are inevitable

Maybe I am better at asking myself what it is to fail — or fail as someone who wants to write.

When you see many other writers making huge and getting their work published all over the world and here I am getting rejections.

You may be getting rejected from jobs, potential clients, your relationship, or any other aspect of your life.

Rejections are inevitable. I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t faced a single rejection in their life.

No matter how big or small it is.

And sometimes when you fear something it could mean you care what you do and it can help you go the extra mile and test your limits.

It’s easy to sell yourself short

Sometimes failure can lead to better learning and trying out things, leveling up, or trying out things that you haven’t done before.

Hopefully whatever you’ve found so far has been fabulously helpful and you’re ready to get going.

As someone who’s started writing online fairly recently with no background and not familiar with anything.

But as I am still mulling over now and trying to learn, not sure of the future and how it’s going to all turnout, but in the middle of all that one thought that has stuck is hoping it helps me fail gracefully and maybe better.

Kill your inhibitions

Inhibitions sometimes come in the form of procrastination — for me, mostly.

It has various forms but similar patterns, ending with the same results; prohibiting you from taking that final step to knowing your fate.

Sometimes it goes like this- I am ready to hit send but something is holding me back.

I double-triple check my work, stand up to grab a cup of tea, get tired, stretch, tell myself that I need downtime so I can revisit the next day shut down the computer and head out.

A week later the process starts all over again.

The point is I never feel ready or perfect. We all live in between.

So why not just do it anyway. Good or bad, you will get to know sooner or later.

Getting out of comfort zone

How often do you say ‘no’ to opportunities because they’re out of your comfort zone?

We call it a “comfort zone” for a reason.

It’s a safe space where there’s no reason to fear any difficulty, frustration, or pain.

“Don’t avoid experiences that will shape and transform you. Your future self must be stronger, wiser, and more capable than your current self. That can only happen through rigorous, challenging, and new experiences.” ~ Benjamin Hardy

I fear the unknown. I run hundreds of scenarios in my mind, over-analyze things, and try to read between the lines.

I like to know what to expect in all situations. I’m sure this is a side effect of my perfectionism, an irrational desire to be 100% prepared for everything.

Here’s the craziest part of all: sometimes, we’re afraid of good things.

There’s a conversation in my head, between my rational self and the fearful naysayer always in a conflict.

The rational side says, “New opportunity; why not? what could go wrong?” And the naysayer replies, “literally everything.”

But when It turned out the times in my life when I wanted to say ‘no,’ but said ‘yes’ instead, I realize that these were periods of personal growth.

And more often than not, periods of joy. Most of the time, the ‘unknown’ isn’t as scary as we make it out to be.

Lastly,

We are too quick to label ourselves. When we say things like, “I don’t know that” or “This is too hard to learn” or “This is not my forte.”

We put ourselves in a box. I have done it for decades.

And sometimes all the negative scenarios in our head and reality are much better than our thoughts.

An incredible opportunity is waiting for you around the corner. And just because we can’t see it yet, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

“We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe. We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure much more than we think we can.” ~ David Blaine

What is the scary thing you have done and said yes to?

Hope this helps you to create your own path.

Be Bold

Be Courageous

Be Your Best

Love,
Ankita

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