I remember when I wanted to learn graphic design some years back. I kept waiting for someone to encourage me, or for a "perfect" condition. But after a few months of waiting, I went to YouTube and followed some tutorials on graphic designing, and I downloaded some free designing apps. With the help of the tutorials, I made my first design. It was rough and looked a bit shitty, but it was still a step in the right direction. Within months of learning, I gained a form of mastery in it that I started designing flyers for organisation, banners and other designs. I did not wait for permission to start, I just started and every other thing fell into place.
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I have discovered that one of the major reasons why a lot of people remain stuck at a point for long is not because they are not talented, neither is it because they lack idea nor opportunities, but it is simply because they keep waiting for permission to start. A lot of people subconsciously believe that they need approval or validation before they can begin something. This includes approval from friends, from the society, from family, and even from situations. They often wait until it feels perfect before they start, or until they are ready, or may until someone asks them to start. What you need to understand, which is the truth, is that you do not need approval or permission before you start.
Every meaningful journey will often start by making a decision to start. You do not need a perfect plan, you do not need a perfect condition, you do not even need a complete confidence, you only need just a decision to take the first step. A lot of the successes people you know now did not start because they had all the answers figured out nor because they had all the support they wanted, but because they were tired of standing at spot. Waiting for permission might look like you are being realistic or responsible, but in the real sense, it might just be a show of fear in disguise. Like fear of being judged or fear of not being good enough for the step.
Each time you are waiting for permission to take a step, what you are doing is that you are handing the control of your life to someone else's opinion and to circumstances. At that point, you are already living in the timeline created by someone else and not you. Imagine someone trying to take a step towards his academics but waiting for someone to tell him what career path he should go into. He may be misguided and he may even end up making the wrong choice. Sometimes, the person you are waiting to get the validation from may not even want you to take the step at all for the fear that your success might become a threat to them. This is why you do not need to confer with anyone when you want to take the step to pursue your dreams.
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Taking the first step does not mean that you are guaranteed to succeed immediately, but it means that you are brave enough to start learning. Growth will not meet you while you are doing nothing, rather growth happens while you are on motion. You have to understand that the confidence you are looking for will not meet you before you take the first step, rather it will come in the course of taking actions. You may not even know what you are capable of until you have made the first move. As a matter of fact, anything of value that you want to achieve will require that you take a step and make a move. Each small step that you take will give you the zeal to take even bigger steps. There are some lessons you may never learn, and there are improvements that may never be possible until you have taken a step.
You will be surprised how lots of opportunities pass people by, simply because they are waiting for the right time or the perfect condition. What they fail to understand is the the right time is created, not gifted nor discovered. It is true that you may not be fully ready, you may even doubt yourself, or you may feel less qualified, but just start anyway. That little step you take may be what will set your on the path of a major breakthrough in life.
Thanks for reading
