You're in exactly the right place to begin

When I was 17 I couldn't run half a mile.

We were supposed to run a full mile in gym class to pass for the semester. I couldn't do it. I spent weeks running laps in my neighborhood to train. My dad tried to help me. My best friend ran with me. I ended up walking three laps around the track to Michael Jackson's greatest hits while my class sat on the bleachers and watched.

As I was finishing the mile, I got a strange feeling that someday I'd run a full marathon. It was interesting, given how the mile had gone. I let it go.

A couple of years later, I had an asthma attack while running.

A couple of years after that, I tried training for a half marathon. When I got injured halfway through, my doctor told me I didn't have the bone structure to be a runner.

10 years later, I ran the marathon.

After I finished, people started saying things to me like, "Wow. I could never do that, I'm not a runner like you." 

Fascinating, isn't it?

Our minds will tell us, again and again, that where we're standing isn't the optimal place to do what our heart wants us to do. So we come up with statements that begin with, “I can't do it now because…” and convince ourselves we're uniquely unable, unqualified, or disadvantaged. We sell ourselves on the idea that the people who are doing what we want to be doing, well…they're different. It's easy for them.

Just because we're not standing in what we think is exactly the right place, looking at it from exactly the right angle, doesn't mean we can't begin.

But it's two-pronged.

When we do begin, we don't get to pick when we cross the finish line.

After I got injured, I stopped running for four years. I spent six months healing, and another three and a half years convincing myself that what I wanted to do wasn't possible. I told anyone who would listen that I was going to train for a marathon but I couldn't because of my bone structure. It was all very dramatic.

We don't get to decide what our heart asks us to do. We don't get to decide when we'll arrive at the finish line. And we don't get to decide the circumstances and resources we have to work with. We only get to decide how and when we'll show up.

It's like this: 

• Wherever you are is exactly the right place to begin. 

  Your mind will try to convince you that you are uniquely unable, unqualified, or disadvantaged. It will tell you that your circumstances are too hard. Don't believe it. Get into the practice of being in conversation with your mind rather than assuming the thoughts it gives you are the truth. Practice compassionate skepticism.

• Consistent action is most effective when you're able to do it without attachment to a particular outcome.

  It's a spiritual practice but it's also practical. As long as you're attached to a deadline and an outcome, you'll suffer. You'll be scared you're not getting there fast enough, nervous you're not doing it right, and convinced you don't know the right way. Imagine what it'd be like to market your passion project if you weren't attached to the audience responding in a certain way. Or what it would feel like to work on your art without being attached to when it'll be done, how much it'll sell for, and when it'll sell.

These principles are spiritual but they're also highly practical. You'll get farther, faster, if you practice them.

• Nine months ago, a full time healing business didn't exist. Now it does.

• Eight months ago, two youth programs didn't exist in the world. Now they do.

• Five months ago, a health coaching business wasn't profitable. Now it is.

This could be you. This could be your idea. Your business. Your program. Your revenue.

What you have to work with today is exactly what you need. You don't get to decide when you'll get there, only that you'll begin.