How To Make Yourself Ready!

I know, I know…when the student is ready, the master appears! This is so true. And everything in your life is much clearer and better when you are ready for it. I have been starting this exploration about readiness with my friend, colleague and co-conspirator Ethan Schutz, who shared his musings on the Human Element blog, here.

So it got me thinking. Are there things you can do to make yourself ready? What might those be? So here’s my thinking on the subject. A starting point for further reflection more than a definitive guide. But I love putting my ideas out there to see what others can add to the conversation. So here goes:

Explore your fears. Being unready is a lot about fear. We are usually not prone to accept that and make up millions of excuses for not doing things. So what’s the worse that could happen? I like building the nightmare scenario elaborately in my head before trying something out. All those things that could go wrong! Would they really affect me? Can I handle them if they do? Oddly, for me this works more as inspiration than a deterrent in most cases. When I figure out that the nightmare’s made of smoke and I can see right through it, I am READY! I know what could possibly go wrong and I know what I could do if it went that way

See your payoff. Not always easy, but if you can find out your payoff for NOT doing that, you will gain great insight. Suppose for a minute you do (or don’t do) everything for a reason. Unconsciously, you figure what you are now doing (or not) is best. At least, its familiar. You might be comfortable and unwilling to lose that. Or dread rejection and criticism enough to tell yourself that not trying is a far better choice. Listen to yourself as if you were your overprotective parent wanting to take extreme care of yourself. What do I stand to lose if I choose this path? What do I gain from not going that way?

Don’t start with perfect, start with practice. When you conceive of something as a practice, it opens up a whole new way of going about it. I set off to PRACTICE writing my blog. So the more I write, the more I am achieving the practice. Of course, there is room for improvement! That’s what practice is all about. So instead of setting yourself up to feel like a failure by wanting to be perfect from the onset, set high standards at the end of the road, but give yourself points for staying on track. You can sometimes even set a timeframe for the practice. Something like, I will practice this every day for a month and then check how I am doing to decide whether I want to continue or not. Many times, the practice is established by then and your accomplishments are what feeds the thrust forward.

Visualize to gain insight. Imagination can be your best ally. Just imagine yourself being absolutely ready for this and following though. Where do you end up? How do you feel? Then imagine the contrary. Where will not doing this take you? How do you feel? Chances are, your body and soul will sit very differently when you imagine both of these. Follow your energy and move towards the one that you feel better with. Sometimes, not being ready is a good thing. It is telling you that you do not want what lies at the end of that particular rainbow.

Make the time to just do it! If you are anything like me and the people I know, lack of time is the most prevalent excuse for not taking action. The truth is, we choose what to use our time on, so that is kind of a lame excuse. Yes, making a different choice may sometimes mean leaving something behind. It is, nonetheless, our choice. Blaming time doesn’t help. If you want to explore something more, make the time. If you want to drop nothing, be sure of that, too. Be ready to abandon that other path! Be at peace with your decision and reconcile with time. I find that the less I use that excuse, the more time I have on my hands. Funny how that happens!

So Breathe…take the first step… see where it takes you!

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