21: Stop Waiting for Perfect

ING: ImagineNewGreatness
May 25
2 min read

Presence, Stewardship, and the Courage to Begin

There is a version of you that is waiting. Waiting until the timing is right. Waiting until the funding comes through. Waiting until you feel ready. Waiting until someone permits you to begin. I know that version. I have been that version. But this week reminded me of something powerful: Readiness is not a destination. It is a decision.

We tell ourselves beautiful lies:

“Once I have more resources, I will launch.”
“Once I have more time, I will apply.”
“Once things settle down, I will build.”

But life rarely pauses long enough to create perfect conditions.

The truth is simple: The moment never comes. We create the moment. Mother Teresa understood this kind of action-oriented faith: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love” (Mother Teresa, 2007, p. 29).

Sometimes, the beginning is not dramatic. Sometimes it is simply choosing movement over hesitation. What Starting Really Looks Like. Starting rarely feels glamorous.

Starting looks like:

Sending the email you have rewritten ten times
Submitting the application before it feels perfect
Saying yes before you fully know how it will unfold
Showing up anyway

Marianne Williamson (1992) reminds us: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” (p. 190). That quote stayed with me this week because so much waiting is actually disguised fear: Fear of failure, Fear of visibility

Fear of responsibility, Fear of becoming, but power grows through participation. As I reflected this week, I realized that stewardship is not passive. A steward does not wait for perfect conditions before taking care of what has been entrusted to them.

A steward acts now—with wisdom, faith, and intention. Former First Lady Michelle Obama expressed this beautifully: “One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals” (Obama, 2018, p. 274). Distractions will always exist. Doubt will always try to negotiate with purpose.

But vision requires movement. “I release the need for perfect timing. I trust my vision, honor my purpose, and begin where I am.” The waiting season ends the moment I decide to move.