Start Before You're Ready
The Perfect Beginning Is the Imperfect One You Actually Take
You have an idea that won't leave you alone.
It could be a business you want to start. A conversation you need to have. A creative project that keeps whispering your name. A leadership shift you know you need to make.
You can see it clearly. You know it matters. And yet...You keep waiting for the "right time." For more clarity. For one more certification, one more piece of information, one more sign that you're actually ready.
What if you're not preparing? What if you're just stuck?
If you've been following my work, you know I teach about naming our inner critics—those voices that keep us "safe" by keeping us stuck. I've introduced you to my Crabby Roommate, Sister Mary Francis, and others. Naming these voices is the first step in the NAME, CLAIM, AND REFRAME® process I teach in my book and workbook.
Today, let's talk about Ophelia—my perfectionistic inner critic. I introduced her last year. Ophelia doesn't just demand perfect outcomes. She demands perfect beginnings.
"Wait until you have the full plan mapped out." "Don't start until you're completely ready." "You need one more certification before you're qualified." "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all."
I call this threshold perfectionism—and it's more dangerous than outcome perfectionism. At least with outcome perfectionism, you're IN the arena. Threshold perfectionism keeps you in the bleachers forever.
When Ophelia Kept Me Stuck
A few years ago, I had an idea for a leadership workshop but kept waiting to develop it. Ophelia insisted: "Research more. Your framework isn't ready. Wait for the right time."
Then a colleague asked me to co-facilitate an intensive in two weeks. My first thought: "I'm not ready." My second thought: "When will I ever be?"
I said yes and brought my half-baked framework to eight leaders. I stumbled. I pivoted when something didn't land. When a participant asked a question I hadn't anticipated, I admitted, "I don't know—let's explore that together."
It was brilliant. Not despite the imperfection—because of it. That messy beginning taught me more than six more months of "preparing" ever would have.
Why Spring Activates Threshold Perfectionism
If you did January's work on reading your seasons, you know not everyone is in the same season at the same time. But if you ARE in spring—when experiments feel energizing—Ophelia gets particularly loud. Spring whispers: "Begin." Ophelia shouts: "Not yet!"
When you start before you're ready, you can't hide behind preparation anymore. You have to show up as you actually are. That's terrifying. And that's exactly why it's necessary.
The Myth of the Grand Gesture
Our culture loves dramatic transformation stories. The person who quit everything to travel the world. The entrepreneur who mortgaged their house. The artist who burned their old work. Those stories are compelling. They're also rare. And they create a dangerous myth: that meaningful change requires grand gestures.
Here's what actually creates transformation: Tiny, awkward, imperfect actions taken before you feel ready.
Not the perfect plan. Not the complete roadmap. The email you send before your website is done. The conversation you have before you have all the answers. The workshop you facilitate before your framework is "complete." Your first awkward step contains more wisdom than your polished plan.
The Intelligence of Starting Small
When clients are stuck in threshold perfectionism, I ask them to design a "ridiculously small first step"—something so tiny Ophelia can't argue with it.
Not "launch my business." Write one paragraph about why it matters. Not "write a book." Write for 15 minutes about one idea that won't leave you alone. Not "become a speaker." Record a 2-minute voice memo explaining one concept.
Small steps bypass perfectionism because they're too small to get "right" or "wrong." They're just experiments. Curiosity in action.
And here's what happens: Those small steps teach you things your planning couldn't. One client realized her "business idea" actually bored her once she started writing—but a side tangent became what she's building now. Another discovered speaking terrified her less than she thought, but writing energized her more—completely shifting how she shares her work.
The small step isn't about building momentum toward the vision. The small step IS the vision revealing itself.
Outdated Thinking → Your REFRAME
Outdated: "I need everything figured out before I start. Starting before I'm ready is reckless."
Your REFRAME: "Starting before I'm 'ready' isn't reckless—it's how I discover what I actually need. My first imperfect step gives me information my perfect plan never could."
Outdated: "If I can't do it right, I shouldn't do it at all."
Your REFRAME: "My 'half-baked' beginning is more valuable than my fully-baked fantasy. The mess is where the learning happens."
Outdated: "I need to wait for the right time—when I have more clarity, more resources, more confidence."
Your REFRAME: "The 'right time' is a myth my perfectionism uses to keep me safe. Spring is inviting me to begin NOW, imperfectly."
Going Beyond the Reframe
Your resistance to starting isn't about the thing you're trying to start. It's about what starting reveals.
When you begin before you're ready, you can't hide behind your potential anymore. You have to show up as you actually are—not as you imagine you'll be once you're "ready." That's the real fear beneath Ophelia's voice. Not that you'll fail, but that starting will reveal who you are right now—and you're not sure that's enough.
Starting before you're ready doesn't reveal your inadequacy. It reveals your edge.
That place where you stumble? That's where you're growing. That question you can't answer? That's what you're here to explore. That gap between your vision and your current skill? That's your curriculum.
The thing you're most afraid to start imperfectly is showing you exactly where your next growth lives.
Your threshold perfectionism isn't blocking your path—it's marking it. It's pointing at exactly what you need to learn next, who you need to trust yourself to be next. When you start before you're ready, you're not risking failure. You're choosing the advanced course in becoming who you're meant to be.
That workshop I facilitated "before I was ready"? It taught me I could think on my feet. That I could hold space for uncertainty. That I could let the work evolve instead of controlling every outcome. Those skills were only available through the messy, vulnerable act of beginning.
This Week's Practice
1. Name your threshold: What's one thing you've been waiting to start "until you're ready"? Be specific. Not "my business" but "reaching out to five potential clients."
2. Ask the real question: Your perfectionism isn't worried about the plan. Ask: "What am I afraid starting will reveal about me?" That answer is your curriculum.
3. Design a ridiculously small first step: Something you could do in 15 minutes. Something that feels more like curiosity than commitment. Not "launch my podcast." Record a 3-minute voice memo about why this topic matters. Not "start my coaching practice." Have one conversation where you coach someone just to see how it feels.
Take that step this week: Not when you feel ready. Now, while you're still a little scared.
Then notice: What did you learn that you couldn't have learned from more planning?
The Permission You're Waiting For
You are allowed to begin before you have it all figured out.
You are allowed to take imperfect action.
You are allowed to learn by doing instead of preparing forever.
Your messy, vulnerable beginning isn't a consolation prize. It's the only path to becoming who you're meant to be.
The trees don't wait for perfect conditions to bud in spring. They respond to what the season is asking—even when it's risky, even when they don't know how it will turn out. They trust emergence. They begin when spring whispers, not when conditions are perfect.
What if you trusted the same thing?
Starting before I'm ready,
👟 Andrea
Chief Reframing Officer @ Beyond the Reframe
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I'm Andrea Mein DeWitt—author, Professional Certified Coach, and self-proclaimed warrior in recovery. After 32 years in education, I transformed my career in my early 50s and now help high achievers stop forcing their way through life and start living it. I write from the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live with my husband Bill, our yellow lab Maggie, and a perfectionist inner critic I've learned to befriend (mostly)."
My book Name, Claim & Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life was featured on NBC's TODAY Show as 2023's best motivational read. The audiobook just dropped on Audible, because transformation shouldn't require sitting still.
