Start Before You Are Ready

Start now. Get going. Stop waiting around for everything to “line up.” Do you have a great idea for a project, business, lifestyle but can’t seem to jump start it? Are you waiting for more information, more expertise, more something? In this episode, body-mind teacher Cara Bradley talks about how to find the courage to get going before you “think” you are ready.

Transcript

Welcome to On the Verge.

I am your host,

Cara Bradley,

And I am here to offer you some no-hype advice on how to wake up,

Show up,

Shift from feeling frazzled to living in flow every day,

On demand,

As much as possible.

Why the heck not?

Today,

I actually I've got just one line that I'm here to tell you and the rest,

Well,

The rest is going to emerge.

I have no idea.

Sometimes I do this for myself just to test the waters.

Am I willing to risk just seeing where things go?

Trusting that I've got something to say,

That something sort of intelligent will come out of my mouth.

But this is the point.

Today I want to talk to you about starting before you're ready.

Start before you're ready.

I heard this line last week.

I was watching Mel Robbins.

Love her,

By the way,

Coffee talk on YouTube.

There's something about her.

She is so direct,

So real.

You know,

I really admire her for her ability to do that.

And sometimes I just plug in the mic like I'm doing right now without a full script because I just want to come off as real as possible.

You know,

I'm working through this stuff myself,

Guys.

It's usually what I'm talking about is something that I am writing down in my journal in the morning that I'm asking myself.

So it's not like I've got all the answers for you,

But we do this together.

And I love hearing your responses via email.

I love hearing you guys,

Honestly.

So let's get back to it.

Start before you're ready.

What does that mean?

What are you waiting to do?

What are you waiting to have in order before you start?

What is it that you're yearning to do?

Where is your natural enthusiasm?

A couple of episodes ago,

I talked about curiosity.

What are you curious about?

What are you yearning to do?

But you're not doing yet because you don't think you're ready.

Because you don't think you have the right this or that.

Start before you're ready and you will shift into flow.

So here's two things for you.

Flow,

This optimal state of well-being and performance where we feel and perform our best.

I talk about it every week.

In flow,

We do everything better.

In flow,

We know what to do.

We sense our surroundings.

We've got more connection with our body.

We have more awareness of what we're saying and what we're doing.

So how do we shift into flow?

Well,

One of the best flow triggers is to have just enough challenge to keep you on edge.

Just enough challenge to keep you awake.

Right?

Just enough of a hill that you're running up to keep you focused.

Just enough of a challenging conversation to keep you aware of the words that you're saying.

Just enough consequence in the email that you're sending to keep you very awake and aware of what you're doing.

So if we are just constantly waiting until we're ready,

Until all the ducks are in a row,

We are never going to risk ourselves.

We're never going to risk.

And I see this in yoga.

When I'm teaching yoga,

I tell people all the time,

If you're not willing to risk falling in here,

If you're not willing to risk quote unquote failing on your yoga mat,

Why do you think it's going to happen in your life?

It's not.

We have to take small risks every day.

We have to be willing to shift or sit right there on the edge on the verge in order to wake up and shift into flow.

So again,

Start before you're ready.

What is it that you think you need something to happen before you start?

I'm going to give you an example of my own life.

I have been deeply involved in a coaching course.

It is for speakers.

It's intense,

Very intense.

David Newman,

He's a local Philadelphia guy,

Nationally recognized speaking coach,

And I'm going through it with a bunch of people.

Huge commitment,

But he has us doing things every week that it's like,

Oh my God,

I'm not ready.

I'm not ready to ask for that speaking fee or I'm not ready to reach out to that Fortune 100 company,

But he has us doing it.

You know,

And it's it's really helped me to see other areas of my life where I don't think I'm ready.

Start before you're ready.

This is what Mel Robbins said,

Right?

Even if it is,

Oh gosh,

I don't know,

Putting a resume out for a job that you may be just slightly under qualified for.

Why the heck not?

Why the heck not?

Calling yourself a painter,

Calling yourself a writer,

Calling yourself a speaker.

We so often say,

I need to do this.

I need to start doing this.

Do you ever do you ever say that to yourself?

Catch yourself.

I need to start doing this before I do that.

I need to figure this out and then I will do that.

Or,

You know,

The thing is,

We just we just buy the books,

Right?

We buy the courses,

We buy the books,

We buy,

Buy,

Buy,

Buy,

Buy all this crap to listen to and read because we think this is going to be the answer that's going to give me what I need to start.

How about starting today?

How about taking a small step forward today?

So yesterday I sent out a bunch of my first prospects for speaking.

I've been speaking for a few years,

But most of it's just come to me.

Now I am going to be going out and it's scary as hell to be reaching out to these,

Like I said,

Fortune 100 companies saying,

Hire me as your speaker because I can help your leaders find flow and increase engagement in your organization and increase sales and performance.

Like,

Whoa,

Okay,

That's that's a pretty big statement.

I know I'm going to fail.

I know I'm not going to hear back from everyone.

I know that probably 90% are going to reject me,

Maybe even more.

But I got to start somewhere.

Do I think I'm ready?

You know,

Borderline.

Sure,

There's always that doubt,

But I'm going to go for it.

I'm going to practice,

Practice building this muscle,

Building the muscle of just prospecting for speaking gigs.

What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting to sign up for a course?

Like a course course,

Not just a self-help course.

I'm talking about,

You know,

A podcasting course or a,

You know,

Videography course or painting course or a juggling course.

I don't know.

It doesn't matter.

Are you waiting to sign up to learn something because you think don't think you're ready to do it?

Are you waiting?

What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for?

The ducks will never be in a row.

The circumstances will never be perfect.

You're never going to have everything you need to step into the new arena and succeed off the bat.

There's going to be trial and error.

There's going to be failure,

Supposed,

Right?

There's really no failure.

There will be rejection.

Oh,

My gosh,

A lot of rejection.

Trust me.

So I'm pumping you up,

Hopefully as much as I am pumping myself up.

Start before you're ready.

There is an element of that,

That an excitement in that that will shift you into this high alert state of flow that will make you nervous enough to wake you up.

That will make you excited enough to feel happy and positive.

If we only play it safe,

We get bored to tears.

We become dull.

We start comparing ourselves to everyone else and we start doubting ourselves more and more.

If we can every single day take a step,

That is what we call in the flow world a four percent challenge.

So studies show that when we can,

All we need is about a four percent challenge,

Four to six percent above our level of expertise.

Put it that way.

Four to six percent is like that sweet spot where we've got enough confidence to take the step forward.

And it's not going to blow us out of the water where we where we just crash and burn.

So what is that four to six percent?

What is that?

What are you going to do today that's just going to kind of push the door open just a little bit?

Is it an email?

Is it a new resume?

Is it a new course?

What is it?

I'd love to know.

I'd love to hear from you.

For me,

It's prospecting.

For me,

It's getting into the sales process of reaching out and cold emailing and connecting on LinkedIn and just starting to stretch my network out so that I can start to really expand my sphere of influence in the speaking world.

That's that's where I'm at.

And it's juicing me up.

It's kind of exciting.

I know I'm going to be rejected.

I know that not everything's going to work out.

I know I'm going to make mistakes.

And that's all right.

I'm really OK with that because for me,

Living on the edge,

Being on the verge,

Living in that in that four to six percent challenge makes me excited,

Enthusiastic,

Happy and probably more fun to be around.

Right.

People that are pressing boundaries and edges are they've got an enthusiasm and an energy about them that makes them more exciting to be around.

What are you doing and what are you waiting for?

I would love to know.

Reach out to me,

Kara at KaraBradley.

Net.

I answer every email.

I love to engage.

Also,

If you'd like,

Just check out my website.

I've got a bunch of new stuff.

I have an e-book that I just put up on my opt ins,

Which is to five strategies to prime yourself for optimal performance.

So five mini wins right there.

Simple.

You can check that out and also just engage with me.

Check it out.

The podcast,

YouTube.

I have some new new stuff stuff up as well.

I'm honestly I'm just throwing stuff out there,

Guys.

It's not all perfect.

It's not all pretty.

But you know what?

It makes me happy to be able to share my excitement for life,

My enthusiasm.

So go out there and get some flow.

Go out there and push some envelopes today.

And I look forward to hearing from you next time.

Take care.

Reviews

Loved this. Your enthusiasm has lifted and inspired me . I’m not really sure what about . My life has been on a wonderful uphill journey for a while . I’ve made some major changes to my health , fitness, self care , money relationship and bring back into my life my love of the arts so thank you
I am inspired 🙏🌸🌿

Great talk. Thank you for the reminder that done is better than perfect, and starting is better than endless preparation. I’m just starting a new business, and I know I’ll grow and learn throughout the process. Funny enough, I just skipped an unnecessary course that would’ve taken time away from taking real action—and probably would’ve held me back from starting now! It’s happening, and I’m ready!

Cara, sounds like you wearing a Superman T shirt, fearless and just going for it. Love it! Thank you for the inspiration.

You have relit something within me. Thank you 🙏🏽

Fabulous insight, high energy, beautifully expressed.

You made me excited! I will definitely look at your channel and podcast thank you

I love that you didn’t have a full script. Are used to do teacher trainings for my business, and I had this little prayer that I would say. “Thank you for the words to say, for all the people here today. “

For whatever reason, all the right words just fell out of my mouth, and sometimes the things that came out of my mouth were very surprising.lol

Hi Cara, thank you so much. This is what I needed to hear today. I have a bunch of projects that I I want to do and I know that doing then will move me and my business forward, but I'm in that state where I'm accumulating the books and the courses and"getting myself ready" before I start. Thank you for reminding me that it's the other way around. Starting now is what will give me the enthusiasm to actually continue as I see small progress and improvements. That's what keep you moving. Thank you 🙏🏾

i’m the queen of needing things to be “perfect” before i start. thank you for the reminder to just do the d*mn thing!

Lovely and vulnerable. inspiring and clearly modeling this brilliant message of starting now, even if it or you etc. isn’t yet perfect, go ahead anyways. With practice you will be able to be ‘more perfect’ or have things be polished earlier in the process etc., but consider that what you feel called to do may be already very valuable and important, abd that it is irrelevant if when you present it initially it will still need work. If it’s good enough people will recognize this for you to feel spurred on, and this is incredible helpful and important. But unless you begin taking small, tolerable steps out of your safe, habitual place things won’t get moving ever. And this movement is what will help you.

Thx Cara just what I needed today after listening to you I sent out a text with ok to start a project I have been holding.

Really enjoyed this. What I needed to hear today especially. You nailed it. I am writing a few posts on Nutrition today that I committed to submitting for Prevention Health Awareness Month but have putting off as I feel imposter syndrome. I a. registerEd holistic nutritionist but not officially been practicing. Want to stop talking about it and make the small steps to have it flow. Been someone who works hard vs let flow. Really like Esther Hicks message on this and Mel Robbins too. Thankyou

Real.
Love hearing people like this who say it like it is, inspire those of us who just need that small push to swing the door open. That’s nearly cracked at the moment. Thanks for a great start to the morning. I will listen to this again.

Much needed morning push! I appreciate your vibration and authenticity.

Wow. Not all 'brand new" thoughts (but what ever is?), But presented in a manner that is both direct and humbling, yet empowering at the same time. I will repeat listen, and follow- first teacher in a long time that I'm choosing to do that.

Thank you so much. I was so needed to hear this. Thaks a ton !

thank you so much! my yoga journey came to a screeching halt about a year ago and i’m just starting to teach again. it’s scary but thrilling and these words feel so supportive 🙏🏼

Gratitude Cara… great message. Love that you are standing on the edge with these talks and taking a vulnerable leap of faith into the unknown to share your passion. Thank you again🙏🏻 Good luck with your emails 😊

Well timed reminder & example, to just start, just jump in, just flow!
Thanks Cara. 💣💥🚀

Really loved waking up and hearing this right out of the gate! Gunna be a good day; gunna nail a 4% challenge!