The perfect time to do something never comes. Waiting for complete information, for all the right people to be on board with the plan, or for yourself to feel totally prepared are comforting excuses. But they aren’t as valuable as you might think to the quality of the final product. And they rarely happen. You’ll never have complete information, everybody fully bought in, or feel totally prepared until you start doing something to reach your goal.
Movement matters. When you start the doing, you immediately gain new and useful information. People start to understand things more clearly. They may not jump on board, but they’ll be able to give you concrete feedback as to why they’re not on board (allowing you to separate real concerns from unimportant ones). And you’ll start to feel more prepared as you start leading the way through these first hurdles and sifting through the first bits of new information.
Starting, doing, learning, reacting, convincing, and collaborating will inform you and everyone else about the goal, project, circumstances and preparedness of the team way more than waiting. If you want to get something done, you’ve got to start doing something.
Photo credit: Sean MacEntee
