Have you ever felt that you couldn't start something important until it was perfect?
Until you felt 100% ready?
Yeah, I've definitely been here too and it's a lie that keeps you way too stuck and neutral.
So let's call it out and start anyway.
Welcome back to the Soul Alliance Healthcare Podcast where we ditch burn out and perfectionism
and step into our fully aligned intuitive power.
Today's episode is a love note to every woman sitting at the edge of your dream.
Waiting until you're ready or until you've earned some imaginary permission slip to begin.
If you've been spinning and planning and overthinking mode, this episode is your sign to start messy
and start now because waiting will not make you any better action will.
I'll be walking you through 10 powerful mindset shifts that will help you move forward
towards your goals even when it feels terrifying even when it's not perfect and especially
when you're tempted to freeze because trust me this is where the magic happens.
This is how you learn, evolve and actually build the life you want.
And I don't know about you but I am ready to get started. I don't want to wait another moment.
And hey if you want to go deeper into this kind of work with meditations, self-care tools and
support to help you reconnect to your purpose and show up for your goals, come join me inside the
soul align self-care Patreon. It's called Soul Aligned Life and I'd be so excited for you to join me
over there. I upload new meditations and practices every single week and this month we're diving into
dream goal workshop that will help you get clear and start taking inspired action. No perfection
required. Well with that said let's get into today's episode.
You're listening to the Soul Aligned Self-Care Podcast. I'm your host Tina Stinson and I had a
stroke at the age of 39 from stress and burnout that shook my world. Now I'm laying it all out.
The deep level self-care practices and mindset shifts that I needed that can be healthy, balanced
and thriving. Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience and a soul's journey
to alignment. This is where real conversations about deep level self-care happen. Let's get into it.
Hey guys welcome back to the Soul Aligned Self-Care Podcast. I am excited about today's topic. 10
steps to start before you're ready. Progress over perfection. And also as a side note I talk a little
bit about a mindset shift about failure. That failure is not a bad thing but a good thing and I'll
get into that in a little while but it is a really powerful mindset shift to make and making this
shift will really help you have a lot more success in your life and not just success but you'll get to
whatever finish line you're looking to get to whether it's bringing something new into your life,
a new personal endeavor, a new business project, learning something new, whatever it might be.
You usually can get there quicker with the acceptance of failure as your teacher and not a bad thing
to avoid. So with that said let's get into today's episode. I want to thank everyone who's here with
me today. Everybody who returns every week and anybody new that might be showing up. I'm really
honored to kind of hang out with you today and for you to spend some of your time with me. So
today there you know how when you have like this certain excitement when you start working toward
a goal or any new pursuit that momentum of that excitement can carry you for a long time
or at least in the beginning it really gets you going. You're so excited and then sometimes
you'll hit a few snags that slow you down or even will stop your progress because you'll just feel
like that big effort, the failure, right? So sometimes this happens in the planning stage so you
don't even get started yet and you never even get started, right? Because you're like oh how am I
going to do this if I'm already failing, right? And that's why this big mindset shift is so necessary.
We often believe things need to be a certain way or done a specific like in a specific order before
you begin, before you actually start. And if we don't meet those internal rules we freeze or we get
stuck. We enter kind of like this paralysis that keeps us from moving forward towards our dreams,
towards our goals and so many perfection is just the killer of all dreams. That's all I could say.
But what if I told you that you don't need everything to be perfectly or aligned to get started?
To even succeed really, right? All you need to do is start. That's it. You just need to start. Nothing
has to be perfect. If that thought kind of makes you cringe a little bit again, it just makes your
skin crawl. You're like, oh god, you know, if you're the type of person who maybe needs to learn everything
possible about a certain topic before you even start in that realm, then you know this this podcast
is definitely for you. And I used to be that way. I used to be like the super duper planner over educator
like just I was paralyzed in it, paralyzed. And I didn't realize it was kind of like the self sabotage.
I didn't realize that I was just scared. And I didn't realize that I just needed to jump and it was
going to be so much easier. But now I do, right? Now I realize that there's always magic on the other
side of that leap. One of the most valuable lessons I've learned over the years is just to start and
do it imperfectly. One of the things I've noticed is that you know you could fail like a hundred times
and nobody's watching. Nobody's really paying attention. And even if they are watching, they're not
really judging you, they're more focused on themselves. And if they are really focused on you, then
that's just weird. Like then you should just ignore them anyway, right? So remember that when you're
overly focused on yourself, you're the only one that's sitting there. Nobody else is overly focused
on you. So whether you start when things feel perfect or messy, it's the same, but the same cycle unfolds.
You still make mistakes, you still fail and you still learn. And then you keep going. So why not just
start? Why waste any more time planning or waiting for things to be just right before you get there?
One thing I know for sure is you can't really map out your success perfectly. There's no one's
size fits all path. You can't like look at somebody else like they're formula exactly and expect
identical results. And that's why like maybe you'll sign up for some kind of a program to try to
learn something and you're not getting the same results as that person. Maybe it's a business
program, a marketing program or something like that. And you're struggling to get those same
results. And I'm not saying that you can't learn from other people. I'm just saying don't like you
got to put your own touch on it. You have to put your own creative way to it, you know, because you
can't copy someone else's formula and expect it to be identical. Because every person is different.
We have different unique skills. We have different perspectives. We have different ways of working,
different talents. So there's no two identical paths. And there's no such thing as a perfect one.
Now once again, I'm not saying not to educate yourself. I'm just saying don't wait until you're
completely overeducated until you start something. And I used to be so like this was me. I used to take
every course before I started like before I became any type of a coach. I have so many certifications.
I can't even name them all. I'll probably forget them. And I just kept doing this because I felt like
I needed more education to help people. And one of the things I realized was I just need to help
the person that's one or two steps behind me. I don't need to be perfect. I don't need to know everything.
I just need to know more on how to help this person. That's a couple of steps behind me. That's it.
Okay. Now having a mentor is gold, right? I just don't think you should expect those exact
results. But learn and then move forward. Even if you're still doing things imperfectly,
learn. So like as an example, when I started this podcast, I, you know, I did a little bit of research. I
had to know how to record and stuff like that. But I didn't know a lot about podcasts. I certainly
didn't know anything about marketing a podcast. And I still don't know everything about marketing
a podcast or doing a podcast. But I'm learning as I go along. And about probably when I was six
months in, that's when I took a podcasting course to learn like maybe a little like better ways to
record, but a ways to edit. I learned and I learned a lot. If I get one takeaway from that, I, you
know, I'm usually happy. But it's about mastering it as you go. You'll learn more if you just start.
And you'll learn specifically what you need to learn. Meaning like if you're starting out and you
feel like you need to take every course before you start, you're going to learn a whole bunch of
things that you didn't really need to spend time doing. Maybe it's something you've mastered already.
Maybe it's something you already know. But if you learn as you go along, you're kind of the
lessons that you're learning, any type of failures you had. And when I say failures, I'm using those
quotation marks because failures are just opportunities to learn. It's just information
on how you should do things. Maybe you need to shift. Maybe you need to do it differently. Right? That's
all failure is. It's just an opportunity to learn and opportunity to shift. And also it really does help
you become very adaptable to different situations. So you learn how to deal with frustrations along your
path. And you don't let those frustrations stop you where you're standing and not move forward.
Okay? In fact, I believe that this helps you kind of reach your goals faster because
and also more aligned because you stop waiting for the perfection and you simply begin. Okay? And
you're not, as I said, learning all those steps that you don't need to learn. You're just learning
the ones that you need to learn along the way. So I'm going to talk about 10 like powerful ways
that you can move towards your goals even when you don't feel ready. So these are like kind of
like little mini hacks that you could use to just get started. Now the first one is to just adopt
the mindset that you're ready enough right now because you're never going to feel 100% ready. I don't
care if you took every course. I don't care if you have your master's degree in podcasting or whatever
it is. You're still not going to feel 100% ready. You never will. So just ask yourself, do I have
enough? Do I know enough to take the first small step? And if the answer is yes, then just go.
Just do it. Right? So I talk about this over and over again on the podcast about how you just
need to know the next step. You take that step then you evaluate. How did that turn out? Did it suck?
Was it a good step? Do I need to adjust? What do I, what can I learn from that step? How do I keep
moving forward? Do I need to adjust and shift? Right? And then you take the next step that you're ready
to take. Now the next thing, number two. So that's number one, adopt the mindset that you're ready enough
exactly as you are. Okay? Number two, start before you're qualified. This is like me with the
life coaching certifications. You know, I didn't feel completely qualified. I had been health coaching
and but life coaching was like very new to me and I never felt like I had enough. But as anybody
who coaches knows, you really learn a lot when you're in the doing, when you start coaching people.
Your clients teach you, you know, and I'm not saying you shouldn't get certified. I'm just saying
you don't need 20 certifications. So start before you feel like you're qualified. If you want to say
write a book, start with one paragraph right now, right? If you want, like I said, if you want to
start a podcast, start by recording a 15 minute blurb of what you would like your podcast to be
and then listen to it. And then say to yourself, is this good? Do I need to shift? How do I need to
talk differently? How do I need to sound? Do I say um 1500 times? I think my first podcast episode,
I must have said um like 50 times. I didn't edit it out either. So if you want to go listen to how raw
my first podcast is, it's still there. But yeah, you'd get better as you go along. Okay, number three,
break it into teeny tiny small achievable steps. Talk about this all all the time. Anytime you get
overwhelmed, it kills your momentum. So focus on like a five minute version of whatever task you do.
And like I said, what do we like if you're starting a podcast? Maybe do like a five minute like
mindset shift of the day or I don't know what your podcast is about. It could be about anything.
You just want to start writing a blog, maybe write a really short paragraph of what you want the blog
to be about, right? So just do one tiny little step then look at it. Like I said, evaluate and then
move forward. Number four, use the do it scared role. So just leap, right? Courage is not the absence
of fear. It is acting despite the fear. So what is the smallest thing that you could do while still
feeling afraid? Okay, now that this like kind of moves into the podcast again when I was terrified
to have guests on, right? I wanted to do it, but I knew just anytime I'm really afraid to take some kind
of a leap, I know that there's going to be magic on the other side of that. So I knew I needed to do it.
So I did a few things to make myself comfortable. I had my daughter pop on like a Zoom call with me
and I practiced with her just to see like I want my biggest fear was like looking unprofessional to the
guest because how am I going to have guests come on my podcast if I'm unprofessional? And so I practiced
a little bit and it just made me feel better. And then the first person I had on the podcast was something,
somebody I was comfortable with, somebody I kind of knew a little bit. And I moved moved on from there
and as I expected having guests on the podcast was magical. I meet the the best people from all over
the world. I have so much fun. I learn so much. So number four, the do it scared role. Just do it.
Number five, leverage good enough deadlines. Okay, so don't wait to launch something or to put
something out into world until it's perfect like the whole podcast thing. Like as I said, that first
episode is still there and I did not take it down because I think that it's kind of cool to look at
where I started and how far I've come, you know. So you know create those small steps that you can take
and then kind of celebrate them and know that those little steps keep you moving forward
and they create transformation and they create momentum, okay. And so celebrate those small steps
but make them small. I can't emphasize the small steps enough. Number six, borrow confidence from
your future self. So this is a journaling exercise. You guys know I love anything with journaling. So
write a letter from your future self to you. You know thanking you for starting messy. Like
this future self is thanking you because now everything is amazing because you started all these
crazy beautiful wonderful things are happening and that future self that you one year from now, so say
is writing you a letter thanking you for you starting before things were perfect. So that's a great
journaling exercise and it's also a lot of fun to kind of dream where that goal or that whatever that
thing is that you want to bring into your life where that's going to take you. You start dreaming about
that and bringing that into your life. So it's a really like beautiful journaling exercise to do
because not only do you start visualizing what could what you could bring into your life but you also
are giving yourself the confidence from your future self. If you're the type of person like me that
leaves in the fact that all time is happening at the same time. So your future self what's happening
for your future self is happening now. So anything that you dream of anything that's in your mind
is something that you're thinking about dreaming about trying to bring into your life because it's
already happening right now. So writing this letter from your future self to yourself now is actually
quite realistic and so make it a good one, make it good, make it count. Number seven, focus on progress,
not perfection. I think I don't know if it was Marie Forleo who like made this kind of phrase
popular but that's who I remember saying it. I did back in the day years and years ago I did B-school
B-school is like a kind of like a business school for online entrepreneurs and run by Marie Forleo
and I just remember her saying this maybe she said in her book too everything is figure outable.
So progress, focus on progress, not perfection. Track your project with like a done list but not
things that are like perfect. Okay, don't focus on what you haven't done yet, focus on what you did.
So you're not making a list to check off, you're making a list every time you do something you write it
down and then you celebrate. Okay, I just realized as I'm recording this that I didn't put my dog away.
So she's sitting right there and she's growling at something. I don't know if you can hear her but
she starts barking. It's just going to have to be a part of the podcast. Okay, she's settling down.
It's not, I guess it's not important. Also we have a thunderstorm that's looking like it's going to roll in
at the same time. So there might be a lot of noise. Okay, number eight. Seek feedback early but not
validation. Okay, so instead of saying do you like this is a good say things like how can I improve
this? I just recorded this, you know, I have to say my kids are really great because they're not
unwilling to criticize me because I'm pretty good with criticism. I think they know that. But
I know they'll be honest with me. So I could say that to them like how can I make this better?
And I think it was my actually my podcast intro. I made my youngest order listen to like a million
times and I'm like what does this need? It just sounds bad and she helped me. And so instead of saying
do you like this? Like trying to get like validation approval. How much better is it to ask the question?
How can I improve this? Because then you're learning and you're getting better and it's great to ask
somebody that has experience but also I asked my youngest order because she went to theater school.
All right, so she's she knows a little bit about this. She knows a little bit about voice. She's a singer
and so like what do I need to do? What kind of flexion do I need to have my voice? How do I need to
say? How do I sound more interesting? How do I sound more excited? And so she helped me with that
quite a bit. So Seek feedback, not validation. So feedback will just it'll just help fuel,
you know, you're learning. It'll help fuel, how do I say this? It'll just help you get better and
better and better and asking for validation kind of keeps you in the same spot if that makes sense.
Okay, number nine, schedule imperfect action time. Okay, so block out maybe like 15 minutes a day
and maybe label it messy first draft time. Okay, so if you're writing the book, if you're starting the
podcast, if you're learning something new. Okay, so for example, I am getting certified in Yogan
Needra right now. I just started. I haven't I barely like kind of stepped into the course.
And one of the things I notice that in module two, I don't know how many modules, there's like 12
modules, there's a lot of content in there. I'm very excited about this, this certification. I can't
wait to do some Yogan needra recording recordings. But one of the things I notice is that they have
you start in module two. And I'm like, how do I start in module two? Am I really going to know
enough to start? And I started like questioning in myself and I was like, ah, there it is,
wanting to be perfect before I start. And it just shows you, well, one of the things it showed me is
I know this, I know this is going to be a really, really good certification. And I know it's going
to really push me out of my comfort zone. And I know also one of the things that they do inside of
this program is they make you feel, they make you feel safe. Like it's a safe space. Everybody's
practicing imperfectly. And so imperfect action, putting some time aside for that imperfect action
is absolutely, if you're learning how to paint, just put 15 minutes aside every day and just paint.
You know, don't go online and watch videos of other people painting, just paint. Watch the videos
another time. See how it comes out. Watch some videos, learn how to do it better. Watch some, I love drawing,
I love painting. I'm not like extremely good at it. But if I want to learn something, so say,
I wanted, for example, I wanted to draw a B. And I tried it. And I was like, ah, that's terrible.
So then I was like, I'm going to watch a tutorial on how to do this. So I was like, oh, okay. And then
I tried it again. And you know, until like you feel like, oh, this is exactly how I want this to come
out. You know, you just keep shifting and trying and shifting. Number 10, the absolute most important
step, I think is celebrate the failures. Reframe every misstep that you make every failure as data.
That's all it is. It's information. What did this teach me? How does this get me closer to what I
want? How do I need to shift? That's it. Those three questions. Once again, what did this teach me?
How does this get me closer to where I want to be? And how do I need to shift? Remember, the magic
happens in the doing, not the waiting, okay? So as I said, that's the most important step. So if you
have one take away from this podcast episode, it's that you need to kind of like change your mindset
about how you view failure, okay? Some of the most successful people actually have become successful
because of all their failures, because they've tried so many times and failed so many times, okay?
And if you really want to have success in a certain area of your life, the more times you fail,
the better. And I think I talked about this a little bit on my Patreon because that's,
this is pretty much resetting this mindset about failure is pretty much this week's self-care
practice on my Patreon. And I talked about how I think I listened to it was like a podcast episode
of an entrepreneur and she said she was going to see how many times she could fail in one month,
like try to fail as many times as possible and see how fast it moves her forward. And she said it
was a very positive experience because because she was trying so many different things, she moved
forward so much faster instead of being afraid to take those steps. And so don't be afraid of the
failure. Re-frame it as data, failure is data. And ask yourself those three questions. What,
what did, did teach me how does this get me closer and how do I need to shift? One of my favorite
reminders when starting something new is this, the more I fail, the more I succeed, the more I fail,
the more experience I gain, the more I fail, the more adaptable I become. So move towards progress
and not perfection. As I said at the beginning of the podcast, if you want more support with this,
I'm going to be hosting a dream goal workshop at the end of July over on my Patreon. Now it's not
on the free version. You can follow me over there for free if you want to just head over there and
follow me. I'm going to be doing it in my VIP version, which I think I believe is like $9 a month,
but I'm going to be doing this workshop and it's going to be probably five days. I don't exactly have
it planned out to the exact moment. I'm going to jump into it. Unperfect. But what I'm going to do is
we're all going to set a goal or something we want to bring into our life and we're just going to
go through this process together. So if you want to do this with me, I'm going to be making daily
recordings for five days and put in them on Patreon. And then I'm going to do a little group chat
on boxer where you could ask me questions if you need to. So this is going to be a workshop
inside of my Patreon. The link for that will be in the show notes. Okay guys, I hope that you have
an absolute fabulous week and I will see you next week. Love you. Bye.
