Be Your Best

DEE President, Todd Gifford (white shirt) in the last mile of a Triathlon on September 4th, 2011…that he was never ‘ready’ for

“I will when I am ready” or “I am just about ready” are phrases I here a lot, and I probably say myself from time to time.  How many things are never started, let alone, never completed, because we are not quite ready…yet?  How many goals are not met because people did not get ‘started’ because they were not ready? Being ‘ready’ is a very interesting concept that I want to dig into a little bit.

What does ‘ready’ really mean?

Based on the dictionary, ‘ready’ is “in a suitable state for an activity, action, or situation; fully prepared.”

“Being Ready” is really a concept of your imagination or someone else’s imagination.  How do you ever really know when you are ready for anything or to do anything?  To me, not being ready really means procrastination most of the time.  And procrastination is just a fancy name for an ‘excuse’ not to do something.  Sure, there are certain things where there is a well-documented training or preparation process to prepare for an activity (like flying to the moon).  But, hey, are those astronauts really every totally 100% prepared to fly to the moon?  I doubt it.

The big point here is that ‘not ready’ is in the way of getting a lot more done and accomplishing your goals and objectives for probably almost all of us.  The perfect example is when you have a good idea, and then you write it down, but you do not act on that idea right away.  Not even a little action to move it forward.  Not quite ready yet.  What happens a lot of the time?  The idea starts to dissolve and lose its body and importance, and then…pooof, it’s gone and forgotten.

The Antidote to Procrastination or Not Being Ready

The widely accepted antidote to procrastination (and stress, anxiety, and fear by the way) determined by many experts, is…action.  That’s right, just ‘action’.  Doing something, anything.  Movement…physical and mental.

Another version of this is the Principle: “Start Before Ready”.  Taking little steps forward immediately after having an idea, before you are ready to, is an example of “Start Before Ready”.  Does it guarantee success with the idea?  No.  Does it put you in 1000% better position to accomplish much more?  Yes.

Aristotle: “We are what we Do.”

An interesting example:  Walt Disney bought 122,000 acres of swampland in Florida, opened a visitor’s center before any other construction on his theme park began, and in the visitor’s center he started selling Disney Theme Park souvenirs.  That is Start-Before- Ready!

One personal example of how Start Before Ready really works is my experience with triathlons.  My long range dream goal is to finish an ironman distance triathlon (having never done a triathlon when I created that goal).  Within a couple hours of hatching that idea/goal, I signed up for a shorter distance triathlon event before I really even knew what I was getting into — certainly before I was ‘ready’.  I was not even ready to get ready!  Plunking the money down after registering for the event, buying a triathlon book, and then telling people I am going to do it was my start-before-ready actions.  Nothing like putting a non-refundable deposit down to help you figure out how to complete a triathlon!  If I had not registered within minutes of deciding on my goal, I likely would not have completed even one event by now.  Never ready.

Most all of us are perfectionists in some way, and we tend to like to get as close to perfect and ‘ready’ as we can get before implementing.  Unfortunately, our version of ‘ready’ is blocking progress and effectiveness more often than we realize.  Recklessness is obviously not good, but being feckless is worse.  A big irony in all of this is our reasoning for waiting to be really ready so we can accomplish great things is THE reason why many things don’t get done (or started).  Start Before Ready and see what you can accomplish.

Be Your Best,
Todd D. Gifford