Beginnings

I find it fascinating, the timing of ideas and thoughts and when they make their presence known.  They are all around us, every day, everywhere we go – just waiting for us to be ready for them.  The question really becomes, are we ready to hear them while they exist and will we act?

I’ve had this idea that I should write for a long time, for years, but never did anything with it.  I never thought it was going to be good enough, or worse, no one would read it – oh the shame!  So fast forward to today, I have a few ideas written down – nothing overly substantial at this point.  Just another set of letters on a page wishing to be discovered as they start to question the reality of that ever happening. 

Today felt different though.  I was out cutting my lawn – something I’ve done more times than I care to do (I’m not one of these guys that lives for their lawn.  Actually, I find it to be a laborious chore that I relish delegating to my oldest son), and I managed to be at the right intersection with my mind open.  See, I grew up, as many of us did, being told if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.  I can almost hear it in my father’s voice.  I don’t recall if that’s a phrase he’s ever said to me growing up, but that’s the voice my inner monologue is choosing to utilize. Here’s where it gets interesting, my thought intersection brought me back to an idea I heard years ago – If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing it poorly.  I know crazy talk!

But this is the point – in doing it poorly, you start.  You don’t hesitate and collect all the reasons for why you can’t.  You simply start.  And you start poorly, but you will have accomplished something and that is where the difference is made.  Because the next time you do whatever that something is, you will do it better.  And better the next time.  And better the next time.  Until one day, you start to do it well.

That has been where I’ve fallen into the same inferiority complex I think many of us feel.  I want all my work to be polished.  The beautiful final draft that everyone congratulates.  I want to hide the imperfections.  However, what I’m slowly starting to understand is that the imperfections are what make the final draft so captivating.  And without those imperfections, I’ll never figure out what direction to go.  And you guessed it; those letters start to stay on a page because they were never perfect enough out of the gate.

That’s why I am starting ‘The Journal’.  To share my journey of imperfections while trying to build something from scratch.  It’s terrifying, it’s exhilarating, and it’s something worth doing poorly.