Your permission slip to transform you life

It’s better to do it imperfectly than not at all.

You can work with messy. You can improve the first draft. You can shift over time; As you know better, you can begin to do better.

You learn a lot from just showing up, raising your hand, getting into the arena.

Applying and not being selected for a job you’re passionate and excited about leaves you closer to your dream life than applying for one that bores the shit out of you that you’re pretty sure you can get…but don’t really want.

Launching the business and scaling sloth-slow leaves you closer to your dream life than waiting to launch until you feel sure you can do it without ever looking silly. Spoiler: that day doesn’t come.  

Doing the thing, whatever the thing is, will leave you so much closer to your dream life than reading about doing the thing. Or watching other people do the thing on TikTok and Instagram.

This is what playing life full out is about. This is what being all in looks like. All in isn’t always sexy, like it sounds. Sometimes (usually?) it’s an unsexy, boring story about showing up over and over again, and then again.

Playing life full out isn’t about winning first place trophies – though it might include that. It’s about getting into the arena and sweating it out with all the other riskers, doers, and dream chasers, because the arena is where all the thrill, passion and magic are.

You can’t play life full out without stepping into the bright lights of the arena and going, even though you know that from the arena you can be seen by everyone. There is no substitute or showing up and being seen.

Begin imperfectly. Give yourself that permission. Without the permission to begin imperfectly you’re forever paralyzed, thinking about the life you want to live, but never actually living it.  

What permission is that, exactly?

Permission to answer the calling, and accept the invitation to take a seat at the table you actually want to sit at.

Permission to not win, not get selected, not hit the mark, and still be kind to yourself, still believe, still show up again tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow.

Give yourself permission to have any result, instead of waiting around until you feel like you can control enough factors to produce one singular result. Those who are willing to go and do have done it 10 times before those trying to get it perfect have even begun. And aren’t you pretty damn good at something after doing it 10 times? 

Imperfect, unsexy effort is where the dream begins. Waiting until you can show up flawlessly is where the dream dies.

So, again: It’s better to do it imperfectly than not at all.

Will you sign your permission slip?