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Start Before You’re Ready

Daily Nuggets | | Kerry Suddes

We wrapped up a fantastic Boot Camp last week with over 70 For Impact leaders from around the country. We end our sessions by asking participants to commit to one ACTION they will take towards producing results – and to take that action within 10 days. One Rock Star sent this update to Coach Mike the day after Camp (it’s long, but worth it to make the point):

On the way home I utilized the training. A board member’s boss was on the same flight – I’ve known him for a while so I went to say hello.

We got to chatting and during the conversation I asked him why he decided to serve on another organization’s board instead of ours. I listened and it turns out it is not because he doesn’t like us! He offered up a lot of information, particularly that there are three avenues for potential gifts from him (his company, individually and from a foundation he serves for.)

He said to call to set up a meeting. I know it will take several tries, which doesn’t bother me, because if I’m anything I’m persistent! I just left him a voice message stating I’d like to meet next week to continue the conversation we had on the plane.

Oh, and just got off the phone with one my top donors – the one who said he wanted to give $50K and I told him the Impact of two fast ultrasound machines and he agreed to $60K. We meet in two weeks.

As Mike says – Double Boom.

With this in mind I want to share a blog Tom wrote a few years ago about Doing the Work:

I was re-reading for the umpteenth time Do The Work by one of my favorite authors Steven Pressfield. There is a huge amount of both wisdom and motivation in this DTW nugget:

START BEFORE YOU’RE READY.

DON’T PREPARE. BEGIN.

Remember, our enemy is not lack of preparation; it’s not the difficulty of the project or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account.

The enemy is resistance.

The enemy is our chattering brain, which if we give it so much as a nanosecond will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do.

That quote is one of the reasons that Steven Pressfield is one of the most impactful writers/thinkers in the world. He puts a name on the nugget. He captures in very few words the essence of the problem; then, gives a simple solution: START BEFORE YOU’RE READY.

DON’T PREPARE. BEGIN.

ENGAGE, THEN PLAN.

ACT NOW.

DON’T MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOUR PROSPECTS.

Pressfield quotes W. H. Murray, (quoting Goethe), with one of my favorite inspirational quotes:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.