13. Don’t Wait For Perfection "Start Before You’re Ready"

In this powerful episode of Call Me First, we dive into why waiting for the "perfect moment" is keeping you stuck at a standstill in life. Whether it’s starting that business, launching that dream, applying for school, or executing the plan you’ve been thinking about for years—perfection is not the requirement, but starting is. Your family, your future, and your legacy are watching and depending on you to move forward, not stay stuck overthinking. In this episode, you’ll learn how to break through fear, overcome hesitation, and take bold action before you feel fully ready. Don’t let procrastination or self-doubt rob you of your next level. Start where you are, with what you have, and build as you go. Listen now to discover how successful leaders push past uncertainty and lead their families by example.

Transcript

 Don't wait for perfection. Start before you're ready. If you've been sitting on an idea, waiting to feel more ready, more confident, uh, more equipped, and for whatever reason you hesitate before making a move. Then this episode is for you. I'm here to show you what that hesitation might be costing you, and it might be costing you the very life that you've been dreaming about.

And if you stay with me, I'll walk you through the events in my own life and show you how I started. Before I was ready and how you can too, let's be honest here. You're tired of feeling like you were supposed to be further than this in life. I just had this conversation with my brother the other day.

You've got goals in your head that haven't made it into your hands. Dreams that stay on your cell phone notes, app dreams that never hit the streets. Plans that sound good when you talk about 'em, but keep getting delayed when it's time to execute and here's what you're doing. I know this is what you're doing.

You're watching other people move and you're still sitting there trying to convince yourself. That is not too late. Tell me I'm wrong. Hey, family. It's your guy, Damien. And this is calling me first, the podcast where leadership starts at home. First, I want to thank you for tuning into today's episode. If you're struggling with communication, respect, or family disconnect, this podcast gives you real life solutions.

You can apply right away. Every episode tackles tough leadership challenges with practical, no nonsense strategies to help you lead with confidence and earn the trust of those who rely on you. Now, let's get into today's episode. Deep down, you feel it, the weight of time passing, the frustration of starting something and stopping.

Yeah, I know. I know the feeling I've been there. Believe me, I've been there. The shame of telling yourself, this is my year for the fifth year in a row. You know what I'm talking about? You're stuck. Not because you don't have potential. You've got plenty of potential, not because you're not smart enough, not because you don't have the dream.

You're stuck because you are hesitating, and that hesitation. Starting to feel normal to you. We've all been there. You're not in this alone. So check this. You ever realize how much energy you spend preparing? You've read the books, watched all the videos, talked about your goals, you've even written them out, all the steps you've researched, the market built plans in your head.

But when it comes to starting, you pause. Tell me, am I telling the truth or what? And here's the thing, you're not lazy. You're just stuck. Stuck in a loop. You keep telling yourself, I am trying to make sure I do this thing right. But what's really happening is this. You're hiding behind preparation to avoid accountability.

Why are we so afraid of accountability? It it's because once you start, people can actually see it, and once they can see it, they can judge it. And once it's judged, it's now real. So instead of risking being seen too early. You just keep getting ready. But that comes at a cost. The cost is your confidence because every time you tell yourself, I'll do it soon, and you don't, you stop trusting your own voice.

You stop believing your own promises. You lose momentum before the race even begins, and that's how dreams die quietly. Not because they weren't real, but because they never left the waiting room. And that is because of fear. Let's talk about fear for a minute. Not the con that, uh, makes you run away from danger.

I'm talking about the con that makes you sit still and you justify it by calling it being wise. You know exactly what I mean. I'm just waiting for the right time. Uh, I don't want to rush into anything. Um, I want to make sure it's perfect. Listen. That's not strategy, that is fear, and it's all dressed up in grown up language.

That's exactly what it is. It's fear. It sounds smart, it sounds responsible, it sounds cautious, but deep down it's fear of embarrassment. It's fear of rejection. It's fear of starting something that you might not finish. Because you don't trust yourself. So instead of calling it what it is, you label it preparation, you stall, you hesitate.

You make plans with no deadlines, and before you know it, months turn into years and you've built a habit of hiding behind your potential. You use good excuses and the longer you wait, the harder it gets to move. Not because you can, but because now starting even feels like a risk to you and we know how afraid of risk you are.

Yeah, I know too. 'cause I was, I was definitely afraid of risk. Let me challenge you with something you probably told yourself a thousand times, which is. I'm not ready yet. It sounds reasonable, but here's the truth. Most people just won't say out loud. You are not waiting because you're not ready. You are waiting because you are afraid of what might happen if you try the words.

Not ready or easier to say than the words. I'm scared. It's safer than saying I don't want to fail, but readiness is a feeling, not a fact. It is subjective. It moves the goalposts every time you get close. Now what does that mean? It means that every time you see progress. You are ready to start. You fester up some unnecessary reason to delay yourself, that there is also the definition of self-sabotage.

Yeah, it is. Deep down your brain is running a full length movie of worse, worst of worst case scenarios. And the problem is it feels real. You imagine failing people, watching you struggle, getting judged, looking like you didn't know what you were doing. And before anything even starts. You already feel the weight of the crash landing.

So what do you do? You do what I used to do. You do what you always do. You pull back, you wait longer. You rehearse in your head instead of executing with your hands, and here's what that cycle creates. Years of preparation for a moment that never comes, I. Because you didn't feel ready, and the longer you delay, the more real it becomes.

You know what's worse than fear? It is regret. Here's the catch. Regret doesn't show up loud. It doesn't scream at you in the moment. It shows up quietly over time. It's when you see someone else doing the thing that you. Knew that you were called to do. It's when someone else teaches your kids something that you've always wanted to teach them, but you never did because you never stepped into your gift.

It's when the job you settle for starts feeling like a prison and the vision you once had. Becomes nothing more than a what? If you look back and you real realize that it wasn't that you didn't step up. It was the hesitation, it was the fear. It was waiting for a sign. When your sign was your desire, you didn't lose decades all at once.

You lose them. One delay, one decision at a time. And the crazy part is nobody sees it, but you are you, you getting what I'm saying? Nobody sees this thing but you because on the other side, your Actually no, on the outside. Your life looks fine. I. But on the inside, you know you've been shrinking, playing smaller, making excuses.

You are not just standing still. You are slowly letting go of the version of yourself that you were supposed to become. Let that sink in for a second. Think about it. Here's what else you've been doing. You've been watching other people pass you. People with less talent, less experiences, less heart, but they did one thing they that you didn't do.

They moved, they actually executed their plan. They didn't wait to be perfect. They didn't stall. Trying to figure out every single detail. They executed, and now they're building, they're visible. They're getting traction and it stings. Don't get me wrong, you try to be supportive. You tell yourself that you're happy for them and, and you really are happy for them.

You really are. It's not a fake thing. You really are happy for them. If you're being real, there's a part of you that feels left behind because you remember you had that same idea. You remember when you said you were going to launch your idea first? You remember when the vision was clear, but the execution never happened.

Oh, not all of you got is a front row seat to someone else's life that looks a lot like the one you planned. That frustration you feel right now, that tightness in your chest, that is not jealousy. That's not bitterness. That's your potential, begging you to get up off your ass and move. Let me tell you something that changed my life.

You don't have to be fully ready to start, but you do have to start to ever be fully ready. We've been taught that confidence comes from action, but that's not how it works. Confidence is the result of movement. It is built from doing something while your voice shakes your hand, sweat while your heart is racing.

That's what I did. You wanna know how I started my photography career? I told a realtor that I was a photographer slash videographer, and. That I could make a video and take pics of one of her listings. And this was before I even had all the equipment. I knew the basics. I studied hard, but truthfully, I wasn't ready.

But I told 'em I was, and I, and I got the job. I bought the gear after I got the gig. So I did the job and she sold the house within four days. I. I was thinking about how horrible these picks in this video was. Right. And you know what? That one job set off my entire career. From there, I got another blessing that came about a year later and I was able to walk onto Ja, the field at Giant Stadium right here in New Jersey to shoot photos of a game.

And that was a blessing for me. See that one moment of courage with that realtor just turned into a flood of new opportunities. And it was because I started before I was ready and that moment taught me something. It taught me that readiness isn't a requirement. It's a reward. There are some lessons you can't read in a book.

You won't find them on YouTube tutorials. You can't Google your way into experience. You have to execute most of the answers you are looking for right now. Like how to start, what to do, how to get better. They're not on the outside. They're waiting. On the other side of your fear, when I started this podcast, I had no idea what I was doing.

My lighting was bad, my delivery was shaky. My video quality wasn't great either. And if you go back to watch those first episodes, you'll see the difference. You'll hear the nerves in my voice. I. But I, I kept going because the only way to get better was to do the thing. And little by little it improved. I got better at communicating.

I got better at trusting my voice. I got better at sharing the real stuff that I knew could help other people. And now, boy, I tell you, this podcast feels like therapy for me. Not just for me, but for the people who are listening, for the folks who feel like they're on their own trying to figure it out.

But it all started when I didn't feel ready. The truth is, you grow as you go. So stop waiting until you know everything before you start. Yo, just keep thinking about success, being honest with yourself. I. But it's about being consistent. Being the best means nothing if you never show up. You don't need perfect timing.

You don't need the fanciest gear. You don't need a hundred thousand followers. You need a decision. A decision to show up even when nobody claps for you, even when the numbers are low. Even when it feels like nothing is moving because the people that you admire, the people that you're looking at, they didn't get ahead by being magical.

They got ahead by being disciplined, staying disciplined, showing up on the days. They didn't feel like it by keeping promises to themselves when no one was watching. By taking one more step. One more rep. One more post. One more pitch. I had a moment a few days ago where I felt a bit discouraged about sending out this message because I was actually paying attention to other people's numbers on YouTube and the podcast, uh, networks.

I had to get some encouragement from my wife and also from my editor that edits these videos. They reminded me that the numbers don't matter. It's the message that counts. But at that point, I definitely needed that boost of confidence from from them both. Here's the thing that you need to know. You don't need to be perfect.

You just need to be committed. You want confidence? Stop looking for hype. Start keeping your word to yourself because deep down, I. A lot of people don't trust themselves anymore, and it's because they've broken so many promises to their own goals, their own potential, their own calling, that now when they say I'm going to start, they don't even believe it.

Confidence isn't built from compliments. It is built from consistency. If you tell yourself you are going to do something, do it. Even if it is small, like Myron Golden said, all work works. It's either working for you or on you. And that's even if nobody sees it. Even if it doesn't pay off right away.

Because the more times you show up when you said you would, the louder that inner voice becomes and the stronger that voice gets. The harder it is to stop you. You ever notice how we always ask ourselves the worst possible questions? Like, what if it doesn't work? What if I fail? What if people laugh? But let me flip that for you.

I want you to look at it like this. What if it does work? What if this is the thing that opens every other door? What if you're just one move away from the life you've always been picturing? You keep letting your mind play the horror movie, but it could be the highlight reel. If you change the script, start asking better questions.

What will my life look like? If I don't try, what kind of example am I setting? If I keep hesitating, who am I letting down? By playing small, your answers will shift your energy and your energy will shift your actions. This isn't just about you anymore. Somebody's watching you, your kids, your spouse, your siblings, your team.

They're watching how you move. They don't need you to be perfect. They don't need you to be rich, even though we all like to be rich, right? They just need to see movement. They need to know that you're okay to start small. They need to see that consistency wins. They need to learn that real growth happens out loud, not just in silence.

You don't have to make it to be inspiring. You just have to start, because when you start, you give them permission to start too. And that is how legacy is built, not just through wins, but through motion. I don't care how long you've waited or how many times you've talked yourself out of it, how many setbacks you've had.

If you've been waiting for a sign, this is it. I'm not saying that it will be easy. I am saying it is necessary. You have something to build, something to create, something to give, but the world can't use what you're still keeping on the shelf, collecting dust and rotting away. I. You were never supposed to stay in the thinking phase this long.

This is your reminder. This is your moment. This is your invitation to move. Forget perfect timing. Forget waiting for the green light. Forget waiting to be brave. It is now a clock. Either move. Or stay still. You either build or you shrink. You either try or you regret. You don't need a 10 year plan to take a 10 minute step.

You just need to start now. Make the call. Write the caption, record the video, send the email, take the class, launch the idea. Wherever it is, start, and once you do, don't stop. If you remember nothing else from this episode, let it be this. You are not stuck because you're unqualified. You're stuck because you won't start.

You don't need more confidence. You need courage because courage moves when confidence isn't there. I didn't feel ready when I started this podcast. I didn't feel ready when I pitched myself as a photographer. I didn't feel ready when I told myself I'd be more than just a worker. I'd be a leader, a creator, a builder.

But I started it anyway and I got better along the way. So will you. So today, make the decision. No more waiting. No more stalling, no more getting ready to to get ready. You start now and you figure it out as you go because everything you're looking for is waiting on the other side of motion. And the truth is, you were ready the moment you decided to start.

I.