A few days ago I saw a man in front of a beautiful sunset on my Instagram feed. He smiled into the camera and asked me something along the lines of, "can you describe what you're seeing... Without using words?".
Can you describe what you're seeing without using words?
Many will find themselves dumbfounded at this idea of describing the sunset without using words. While this particular example seems far-fetched and pretty exclusive to this writing, this phenomenon in general happens more often than you might think.
How many of us truly live our lives not waiting for the perfect opportunity? Or not waiting until we feel sufficiently ready? It's good to jump into something when we have the perfect opportunity, for sure. Going at something when we're as ready as can be is also amazing.
But all too frequently we find ourselves in inaction because we don't believe that what we have is going to be of use for us.
I've been studying and practicing French for a little over a year now. I'm able to say a lot of things I couldn't in the past. I can hold an entire hour of conversation in French with my tutor, which is something I couldn't even dream of a year ago.
When I was in Paris 14 months ago, I spoke 0 French. But then I got scammed. When we went back to the Louvre and found policemen patrolling the area, you can bet I did everything in my power to find the French words in my brain to communicate with the policeman who didn't speak English.
But let's take away this context, and suppose you asked Billy 14 months ago. "Hey Billy, can you tell the policeman that you've been scammed in French?". I would reply, "Pssh, I wish!". Why? Because even I fall into the trap of waiting until I'm ready.
Even though I didn't have a lot of French in my head, I used my innate human body language to convey the urgency and my emotional distress. I know the power that I do have, even if that power seems feeble compared to the power I would like to have. I can't rely on my future power today but I can 100% rely on the power I have today, even if it's not as cool and glamorous as the future power.
You might not be exercising because you believe you're too weak and busy to exercise. But when you start doing chair yoga (from my friend Nataliya!), you find that you actually have the time and energy to exercise. You might not be launching your business idea because you don't have the certifications yet. But nothing is stopping you from prototyping and getting feedback with the resources you have.
Acting today with what you have is important for two reasons.
- You separate the pursuit of improvement from immediate practice. This makes the pursuit of improvement more economical; if you actually do need improvement in your practice, you will feel your gaps in practice more specifically. If you don't need improvement in your practice because you were actually a lot more capable than you thought, then you can drop the pursuit of improvement and use that energy for other things.
- You stop operating from a deficient self view and start operating from a resourceful self view. Anybody can make leather craft when they have the best tools and machines. But an artisan can make leather craft with anything they have laying around outside of their workshop because they use the things they have at their disposal. This resourceful self view pays a lot of dividend in the long run because over time you stop seeing yourself as poor and start seeing yourself as rich. Rich with resources.
Many things in life are actually impossible. At the same time many things we think impossible until later are actually very possible today. Even if it doesn't look as pretty, even if it isn't as fleshed out as you want it to be... Work with what you have today and celebrate your rich life.
Billy Seol
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July Life Coach
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