Confidence Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum
Will Rogers once said “a vision without a plan is a hallucination.” A plan without action is a bucket of sand.
Action, the will to act itself, some may say takes confidence. I used to think the same thing. Then I read a story about Seth Godin. Scott Belsky tells it in his excellent book,Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality
Mr. Godin was doing a presentation at a conference. He put up a slide with dozens and dozens of product images spread across the screen. They were all his. Most of them – yup, most of them – were obscure products that no one had heard of. Maybe the most esoteric of Godin’s followers could tick them off; even that is unlikely.
The point he was making was this. The reason so many people don’t make it to the upper echelons of the area of their choosing is a condition he called an aversion to shipping. His view is that nothing is ever ready, absolutely ready to go.
Take a Deep Breath and Jump
There comes a time when, as best stated by a character in a John LeCarre novel, “Sometimes you have to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and jump.”
I struggle with this myself. I feel like the 16 year old kid who wants to ask the most popular girl in school to the dance. I keep telling myself that I will ask as soon as I can “get my nerve up.” Well, when do you think that will happen?
Movement completes plans.
Completed plans fulfill visions.
Doing is the father and mother of confidence.
Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and jump.
photo credit: dollie_mixtures
About Mike
Mike, this is my first visit and I really like it.
“I struggle with this myself. I feel like the 16 year old kid who wants to ask the most popular girl in school to the dance. I keep telling myself that I will ask as soon as I can “get my nerve up.” Well, when do you think that will happen?”
I’m not so sure that we (men or women) ever get over feeling some of the anxiety and nervousness we felt as teenagers. Fortunately, most of us eventually do take the deep breath and jump.
.-= Madeleine Kolb´s last blog ..Big Piece of Alzheimer’s Puzzle Solved =-.
Hi Madeleine,
Thanks for coming by. I would like to think you are right that most people finally jump. My experience is (frighteningly) that many don’t. It may be our job to give them the final push.
Oh, by the way, your blog has a nice look and feel to it. I liove the pictures with your posts. Are they your creations?
How true. If we wait till the conditions are ‘perfect’ it is unlikely that any of us would take any action. Sometimes we are searching for the ‘right starting point’, when in reality, once we begin, that is the ‘starting point’ and we just need to take it from there.
.-= Marian Kerr´s last blog ..Marian Kerr =-.