Start Before You’re Ready: Lessons from the Messy Middle

I was chatting with a friend today, a brilliant, talented, experienced woman who’s been stuck for years! Not because she lacks resources or knowledge. She has those. What she lacks is permission. Permission to be seen in the in-between. To take messy action without knowing exactly how it ends.

She wants the prize without the journey but I gently (ish) reminded her the journey is the good stuff.

But the fear of looking silly, of failing, being rejected, or not having it all figured out keeps her frozen in time. She keeps waiting until it’s perfect. Until she’s perfect (unrealistic). Until the conditions are just right. And in doing so, she misses the real story: the becoming.

She retreats to her two familiar corners, the intellectual deep dive into her behavior (avoidance), and her sofa. Comfortable places. Safe places. But safety, when misused, becomes a cage.

What she doesn’t realize is this, in her hiding, she’s withholding her unique vibration from the world. There’s a frequency, a tone, a language that only she carries. And listen, it doesn’t even matter what the thing is, it’s her willingness to be and do.

And it’s not just the world that needs her in it, she needs it. She needs to know she is capable of taking up space as an unfinished masterpiece.

So what will it take to get her moving?

Maybe it’s not a breakthrough or a dramatic change. Maybe it’s just one tiny step.

Because the real value of being human isn’t in being flawless, it’s in the messy middle. The anguish of years spent finding your magic. The 300 faceplants before the quiet victory. The willingness to be a little lost, and show up anyway. The discovery into your strengths and weaknesses.

In a generation of AI everything, dare to be a human being.

One that has no f*cking idea but is passionate enough to be seen in the discovery.

So if you’re reading this, and you’ve been hiding in your corners, consider this your gentle nudge:

Take just one tiny step forward, friend.