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"It's a terrible thing in life to wait until you are ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now.” ~ Hugh Laurie. In this episode, I share some thoughts and a few personal stories on how to move past this dream-killing idea that you have to be ready and have all the answers before you can move forward with your dream.
Highlight’s from this episode:
Ancient Chinese Proverb: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
Listen to your inner wisdom for guidance on the steps to take
When you commit to your dreams, the universe will conspire to show you the way
Reference: The 5 Second Rule, by Mel Robbins
About Your Host:
I’m your host, Anita Adams, an award-winning leader and the founder of Joyful Inspired Living, an organization dedicated to teaching people how to access their highest most authentic self so they can find clarity and create a life of purpose, passion, and joy. In addition to hosting the Joyful Journey Podcast, I offer retreats, both live and online, and private coaching programs to further guide my clients on their journey to their highest self.
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Email - anita@joyfulinspiredliving.com
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Welcome to the joyful journey podcast. If
Anita Adams:you're uncertain about what you really want or unsure how to be
Anita Adams:a force or good, you know this world craves, then this is the
Anita Adams:show for you. I'm Anita Adams, your host and guide to finding
Anita Adams:clarity and creating a life you love. Let's tap into our inner
Anita Adams:wisdom, access our highest self and unleash joy. As we raise our
Anita Adams:vibration, we heighten the collective consciousness and
Anita Adams:that, my friends, is the joyful journey. Let's dive in. Hey,
Anita Adams:joyful journey years, Anita Adams here your host of the
Anita Adams:joyful journey podcast. Before we get into today's show, I'd
Anita Adams:like to thank you for tuning in. And to give an extra big thanks
Anita Adams:to those who have taken the time to leave a review. Those reviews
Anita Adams:help the show become more discoverable. And as our mission
Anita Adams:is to raise the vibration and heighten the collective
Anita Adams:consciousness. You are helping us do that by bringing this show
Anita Adams:and our message to the attention of more people. I'm going to
Anita Adams:start sharing reviews on my solo episodes. And today I'd like to
Anita Adams:thank jumble bug who wrote love this podcast, and Anita is very
Anita Adams:easy to listen to, as well as being a great interviewer honing
Anita Adams:in on what the audience wants to hear. I particularly enjoyed the
Anita Adams:episode The inner healer, with Anne crook, and all that was
Anita Adams:shared in this conversation about not living in fear, using
Anita Adams:your breath and tapping into your inner wisdom. Thank you
Anita Adams:jumble bug for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the episode
Anita Adams:with an Kruk. I did too. She was such a wonderful guest who has
Anita Adams:become a lovely friend. Alright, let's move into today's topic,
Anita Adams:which is about being ready, and that there is no such thing. Are
Anita Adams:you familiar with the famous actor Hugh Laurie, he once said,
Anita Adams:it's a terrible thing in life to wait until you are ready. I have
Anita Adams:this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do
Anita Adams:anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is
Anita Adams:only now what deep truth there is in these words, waiting to be
Anita Adams:ready is equivalent to a death sentence for your dreams as the
Anita Adams:waiting only gives more time to the inner critic to convince you
Anita Adams:that you are not smart enough, capable enough, talented enough,
Anita Adams:whatever enough. And soon, those dreams that could lead you to
Anita Adams:your life's true purpose begin to fade. So instead of waiting
Anita Adams:to be ready, where everything is perfectly aligned, and you have
Anita Adams:all the answers to every question imaginable. Here's
Anita Adams:another option. Don't overthink it, lean in and just take that
Anita Adams:first step. Like the well known Chinese proverb instructs a
Anita Adams:journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. You don't
Anita Adams:need to have all the answers to move forward. You don't need to
Anita Adams:have everything figured out. You just need to have a vision of
Anita Adams:the future you want to create, and an understanding of the
Anita Adams:first step to take. I get how uncomfortable that is not
Anita Adams:knowing all the answers. As a self professed a type control
Anita Adams:freak. This is something I struggle with. And I have to
Anita Adams:constantly remind myself that I don't need all the answers. I
Anita Adams:just need to understand that one single step. That's it. Once you
Anita Adams:take the first step, then the next step will be revealed. Do
Anita Adams:you know what makes it easier to take that first step or even
Anita Adams:those first few steps? You guessed it, learning to listen
Anita Adams:to and trust your inner voice of wisdom, that sole voice that is
Anita Adams:trying to guide you to your highest self and the grandest
Anita Adams:version of your life. The times in my life when I have listened
Anita Adams:to that voice and took action even before feeling ready, and
Anita Adams:having all the answers worked out. I've never been
Anita Adams:disappointed. When I started my film business 23 years ago, for
Anita Adams:instance, was acting on an impulse or call it intuition.
Anita Adams:I'd like to share that story with you now. And how taking
Anita Adams:that first step 23 years ago, got me on to an unexpected and
Anita Adams:most delightful path.
Anita Adams:The year is 1999 It's a cold winter morning and I'm attending
Anita Adams:a We can workshop hosted by women in film and television
Anita Adams:designed to kickstart or reboot your film career. I'm a new
Anita Adams:mother with a three month old baby who my husband generously
Anita Adams:brings to the workshop every few hours so I can nurse her. I'm
Anita Adams:also a woman with a dream to relaunch and build her acting
Anita Adams:career. On day two of this workshop, the facilitator a
Anita Adams:tall, beautiful and immaculately dressed woman takes center stage
Anita Adams:and asks, Does anyone have anything to share that has
Anita Adams:bubbled up from our first day together? I look around and see
Anita Adams:a room full of creative people, writers, directors, producers,
Anita Adams:actors, and suddenly I feel inspired to share an idea that
Anita Adams:has just popped into my head seemingly out of nowhere. My
Anita Adams:hand shoots into the air. Yes, we have our first enthusiastic
Anita Adams:speaker. What would you like to share? Anita? Well, I
Anita Adams:tentatively begin. We have so many people right here in this
Anita Adams:room. Why don't we? Why don't we put together a script reading
Anita Adams:event where the writers can have their project showcased by some
Anita Adams:of the actors and the directors and producers can discover new
Anita Adams:projects and talent to work with what a brilliant idea explains
Anita Adams:the facilitator boosting me up, she then calls to a volunteer at
Anita Adams:the back of the room to circulate a sheet of paper.
Anita Adams:Here's what we're going to do, she announces. If you are
Anita Adams:interested in participating in this reading initiative, write
Anita Adams:down your name and email address on the sheet of paper that's
Anita Adams:coming around, and Anita will follow up with you. Oh, wow. Now
Anita Adams:I've done it. This workshop is all about making commitments and
Anita Adams:following through. So I have to do as she instructs, I have to
Anita Adams:follow through on this idea that came tumbling out of my mouth
Anita Adams:before I had a chance to self check before my brain had a
Anita Adams:chance to jam on the brakes. Many years later, I read a
Anita Adams:brilliant book by Mel Robbins, the five second rule that talks
Anita Adams:about this very phenomenon. She says we have precisely five
Anita Adams:seconds to take action before our brain gets in the way and
Anita Adams:convinces us otherwise. I can tell you she's absolutely right.
Anita Adams:If I had stopped to think about everything that would be
Anita Adams:involved in this plan, there is an extremely high chance I would
Anita Adams:have talked myself out of it. And my life would be very
Anita Adams:different today. Regardless of whether this idea was thought
Anita Adams:through or not, though, the focus here is about taking that
Anita Adams:first step. And in this case, that first step was simply
Anita Adams:sharing an idea. That action then made clear the next step,
Anita Adams:email the 120 people that said they were interested in this
Anita Adams:idea what happened next was pretty remarkable. Not only did
Anita Adams:those on that list, respond with enthusiasm, word spread, and
Anita Adams:many more came forward and wanted to get involved offering
Anita Adams:to volunteer their services to move this vision forward. With
Anita Adams:each step taken, a new step was revealed. Eventually, I learned
Anita Adams:enough and built my confidence enough to map out a bigger plan.
Anita Adams:To be clear, I do believe in the value of creating a roadmap to
Anita Adams:your success. I just don't believe you need to have it all
Anita Adams:figured out before you take that first step. Answers will come as
Anita Adams:you move forward with your vision, and the universe will
Anita Adams:conspire to guide you along the way.
Anita Adams:There's more to the story. I ran my script reading event for
Anita Adams:seven years. And during that time, I got to know a lot of
Anita Adams:filmmakers. Around year five, a new idea emerged. What I
Anita Adams:discovered in my work with writers and directors is that
Anita Adams:Canadian films have a hard time finding their audience simply
Anita Adams:because they don't have the same marketing dollars behind them,
Anita Adams:as do our American counterparts that dominate the screens.
Anita Adams:Consequently, few people hear about Canadian films and those
Anita Adams:films then quickly disappear. The idea I had that came from
Anita Adams:this awareness was to help spread the word about new
Anita Adams:Canadian films through my growing mailing list. I call
Anita Adams:this new initiative the first weekend club. The first step of
Anita Adams:moving forward with this vision to help Canadian films was to
Anita Adams:email everyone on my script reading list to let them know of
Anita Adams:my plan and why it was important to support a film on its opening
Anita Adams:weekend. I told my audience, I would be creating a separate
Anita Adams:email list specifically for that purpose. And if they wanted to
Anita Adams:be on that list to let me know, my inbox exploded. Not only that
Anita Adams:the media got wind of what I was up to and wanted to interview
Anita Adams:me. And a federal funding agency suggested I apply for funding to
Anita Adams:support this initiative. I seem to be on to something here. What
Anita Adams:started as a little nugget of an idea grew into a national highly
Anita Adams:respected film promotional agency. And we promoted over 700
Anita Adams:feature films and countless talent. I ran that business for
Anita Adams:18 years, and in 2018, earned the Woman of the Year Award
Anita Adams:through Women in Film and Television. I had no previous
Anita Adams:business experience when I started down this path, and I
Anita Adams:certainly didn't feel ready to embark on launching a film
Anita Adams:promotional agency. I felt confident I could figure it out,
Anita Adams:though with the right people in my court. And that was the next
Anita Adams:step that became obvious, secure a kick ass board of directors
Anita Adams:who did know what they were doing. I ended up with some of
Anita Adams:the most powerful film industry professionals from across the
Anita Adams:country, sitting on my board of directors. Sometimes I would
Anita Adams:feel like a complete fraud walking into our board meetings.
Anita Adams:But that's a different story altogether. Imposter syndrome is
Anita Adams:huge, though. So if you ever feel that way, understand you
Anita Adams:are not alone. And don't let it stop you. I want to share
Anita Adams:another short story to illustrate how taking action
Anita Adams:before being ready can lead to amazing life giving experiences.
Anita Adams:This story is about the time when my husband and I decided to
Anita Adams:move the family to France for a year, we didn't have a clue what
Anita Adams:would be involved making that kind of transition with two
Anita Adams:teens in tow. There was so much to think about that if I allowed
Anita Adams:myself to try to figure it all out before taking action, it
Anita Adams:would have paralyzed me. Instead, we made the declaration
Anita Adams:we are moving to France, and then set out to figure out what
Anita Adams:the first thing was for us to do to make that team dream a
Anita Adams:reality. The first step we decided would be simply to
Anita Adams:research France and where we want to live. Sounds like fun
Anita Adams:right reading about a country and looking at places to move.
Anita Adams:It was indeed very fun. And that research led me to discover a
Anita Adams:blog written by a Canadian woman living in Montpellier a the town
Anita Adams:we decided to make home. And that woman ended up becoming
Anita Adams:instrumental in helping us with the transition. She fed me the
Anita Adams:next step, and then the next. And before we knew it, we had
Anita Adams:secured a lease on a home in our city of choice got our kids
Anita Adams:registered in a French school and sorted out our international
Anita Adams:banking needs. Everything else from there felt easily into
Anita Adams:place one step at a time.
Anita Adams:A final example of moving forward before feeling 100%
Anita Adams:Ready, is when I decided to launch this podcast and offer
Anita Adams:retreats and build a coaching program. Even though I didn't
Anita Adams:have all the answers about the how and certainly didn't feel
Anita Adams:ready. Once I did make the decision to go for it, I was
Anita Adams:able to move confidently into these roles because I understood
Anita Adams:one really important thing. There is no such thing as being
Anita Adams:ready. There is only now and now is a brilliant time to take
Anita Adams:action. You can bet that most successful people in life didn't
Anita Adams:always feel ready when they started down their path. They
Anita Adams:just took action. They took that first step. There is one more
Anita Adams:thing I want to share before wrapping this up. Around the
Anita Adams:same time I participated in that women in film workshop. I also
Anita Adams:took an acting workshop with this la guru who was brought
Anita Adams:into Vancouver for the weekend. This coach shared something that
Anita Adams:I still like sharing with my clients. You have to pursue your
Anita Adams:dreams with full abandon. He said oh In this way, will you
Anita Adams:find the path you were truly meant to be on. At the time, I
Anita Adams:was following my dream to be an actor, and I was giving it my
Anita Adams:all. This path led me to launch my own business, which became my
Anita Adams:new dream. I distinctly remember sitting on a movie set one day
Anita Adams:waiting for my scene, I had a small recurring role on the
Anita Adams:deadzone and wishing I could be working on my business. Instead,
Anita Adams:you could say there was a tug of my heart. A few months later, I
Anita Adams:called my agent and told her I was hanging up my hat. The
Anita Adams:backup, that was an aha moment. A few months later, I called my
Anita Adams:agent and told her I was hanging up my acting hat, my dreams had
Anita Adams:shifted. I found the path I was meant to be on, or at least for
Anita Adams:the time, a number of years later, my dreams and desires
Anita Adams:shifted again, which led me to start up another business, which
Anita Adams:then pointed me down yet another path. I look at where I am
Anita Adams:today, loving this life I have created and I can clearly see
Anita Adams:how all the dots connected to get me here, and how all the
Anita Adams:experiences have taught me the things I need to know to be a
Anita Adams:better teacher and coach and businesswoman so I can better
Anita Adams:serve the people I am here to serve. Even some of the stories
Anita Adams:I share in other episodes, such as the hard times in married
Anita Adams:life, have served to guide me to where I am today. I'm grateful
Anita Adams:for the lessons learned, despite the pain. Two decades ago, when
Anita Adams:I raised my hand to share an idea I didn't have the vision
Anita Adams:I'm living into today with running retreats and coaching
Anita Adams:people how to listen to their inner wisdom. And yet I followed
Anita Adams:the breadcrumbs and took action before ever feeling ready. And
Anita Adams:those steps have led me here. Am I at my final destination?
Anita Adams:Probably not. And who's to say all you and I need to do is
Anita Adams:listen to the calling of our hearts, and then take the first
Anita Adams:step. Maybe that first step is simply declaring your intention.
Anita Adams:It doesn't have to be to a roomful of strangers either. You
Anita Adams:could just declare your intention to one person. Soon
Anita Adams:the next step will be revealed. And the next as the universe
Anita Adams:will conspire to support those who commit to their dreams. If
Anita Adams:your dreams change along the way as mine have, that's all right,
Anita Adams:your heart and soul will never misguide you. So don't doubt
Anita Adams:yourself just because your dreams have changed. You may not
Anita Adams:see the bigger picture of where your heart and soul is guiding
Anita Adams:you to. So lean in to the whispers of your heart, and then
Anita Adams:take action one step at a time. And then one day, you'll look
Anita Adams:back and go wow, look how far I've come look at all the cool
Anita Adams:things I've done.
Anita Adams:keep tuning in to your inner voice of wisdom as it's always
Anita Adams:there ready to guide you. When you let go and trust that
Anita Adams:guidance, you'll also be able to let go of this dream killing
Anita Adams:idea that you have to wait until you are ready. You are as ready
Anita Adams:as you need to be right now. So what are you waiting for? Do
Anita Adams:what your heart soul spirit is calling you to do. Just take
Anita Adams:that first step. Thanks for being on this journey with me
Anita Adams:joyful journeyers we'll catch you next time. Thank you for
Anita Adams:joining us today on the joyful journey podcast. If anything
Anita Adams:resonated with you, please visit our website at joyful inspired
Anita Adams:living.com Sign up to receive a free download of our three
Anita Adams:guiding principles to inner wisdom and become a member of
Anita Adams:the joyful inspired living community. For a deeper
Anita Adams:spiritual dive. Check out our retreats we offer both in person
Anita Adams:retreats on beautiful Bowen Island in British Columbia, as
Anita Adams:well as online retreats that you can do from the comfort of your
Anita Adams:own home. And finally, if you liked our show, please leave a
Anita Adams:review so more people can find it and learn how to access their
Anita Adams:highest self and together will raise the collective
