literally just do things

there will never be a perfect time

A few days ago, I was on FaceTime with my best friend (who coincidentally just texted me as I wrote this, hello synchronicity), telling her about a new endeavor I’m excited about. I was telling her I realized there’s one thing I’d really like to do more of in my work, and that’s creative direction—so I went down a TikTok rabbit hole of creative directors, found a creator whose videos I loved, messaged her on LinkedIn asking to chat, and she said yes, now it’s in the calendar. I was telling my friend I’m very keen to ask this creator questions as I know I’ll learn so much from her, and that the same day I found a free online course that covered all the gaps I had in my knowledge about creative direction. She immediately was like “Ahhhhh you’re inspiring me right now. This is what I love about you, you just do things. I’ve been wanting to do more XYZ for months but it hasn’t felt like the perfect time, I don’t feel ready, there’s a few things I could improve on first.” So we chatted about her plans for a little bit, and I told her what actions I’d take today if I were in her position.

This conversation is one I have with friends quite often. Because I delusionally launched myself into starting a business when I was studying at university and working part time jobs, with my relevant knowledge at that point being at a solid 3/10, this is the main kind of thing friends come to me for advice on. What do you know—a few years later, the side hustle I started on a whim is my full time job and has taken me places I hadn’t even dared to dream of. Many of my talented, gorgeous, incredibly smart, incredibly wonderful friends have aspirations of changing their careers, embarking on a big project, doing something of their own. They’re perfectly qualified to do all those things and to succeed. But the hardest obstacle they face is just starting.

Have you seen those tweets saying things like “there are people with half your skills and intelligence living out your dreams, just because they put themselves out there and didn’t overthink it”? It’s definitely true. When I observe my own experience and analyse why things worked out, I can tell you that it wasn’t because of any business skills or much of my knowledge; it was 90% because every time I had an idea (for a career project, a new initiative in my business, a role I wanted to learn to do), I would take advantage of the momentum of inspiration immediately and act on it.

That’s the main trait I attribute good outcomes to. It comes from being impatient. When I’m excited or inspired about something, there’s no way I’m delaying it—I want to launch myself into it right here, right now, for better or for worse. Call it underthinking (I’m also very prone to overthinking in other areas of my life but thankfully not in business). And it’s paid off more than I could have known.

Again and again, when things work out, I realize it’s a result of simply prioritizing getting things done. A rebrand? Pinterest board ready. Testing out a new service within my business? Just added it to the website, it’s out in the world now. I want to learn more about creative direction? I’ve reached out to 3 different people to connect and I’m making my way through every free resource. Many times, the most impactful things you can do for your career are free. It’s just a matter of not waiting. When you wait, you lose momentum. And momentum is incredibly powerful because when you’re inspired, you act—and you do it with enthusiasm. Honestly, being able to take advantage of inspiration when it strikes is one of the most satisfying feelings. You’re doing yourself a service by acting on your desires and dreams when it feels fun to do so.

Another friend of mine is a content creator wanting to reach out to more brands to work with, but she keeps putting it off because she doesn’t think she has enough followers yet. But we know, by now, that it barely matters. When you’re good at what you do, creative, and you dare to put yourself out there and send that message anyway, good things happen. We see it time and time again. Reach out anyway—someone will always have more followers, more free time, a better setup. It’s up to you to push through everything, part the crowd, and make some space for yourself to at least give yourself the chance of getting what you want. If you want to submit your writing to big publications but you’re putting it off for any reason (I want to become even better first / it’s too competitive / I’d like to have better ideas) you’re just placing obstacles in your own way. They don’t have to be there. Same goes for anyone wanting to launch a side hustle or passion project of any kind, but thinking they have to figure out a ton of things first before they can put it out in the world. You figure it out as you go along. Make an Instagram account for your passion project, make a free landing page somewhere, make it exist!

You will never be fully ready and there will never be a perfect time. It’s genuinely not about waiting for the right time to do something when you’re ready, it’s about doing things before you’re ready just to make them exist. Those quotes that say “make it exist first, you can make it good later” are very true. When researching and writing my book, I interviewed entrepreneurs having made tens of millions in their 20s and 30s coming from all kinds of backgrounds, achieving things they never thought they’d have been able to. This is the one pattern that kept coming up. They favored getting things done, over perfectionism. They understood that the sooner they take a solid step towards something they want to achieve, the better. Very simply put: don’t let action be the only thing separating you from those that are building the life you dream of. If you can take a small step today, do it. I promise it could be the one little tiny thing that kicks off a domino effect leading to great things later on.

I wrote a follow-up post to this, sharing lots of personal stories that will inspire you to just go for it. You can find it here.

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You might also enjoy my book, which is basically a lot like this post, but a lot more detailed. Thank you infinitely for reading! 💙

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