Stop Waiting to Feel Ready: How to Take Action When Fear Is Holding You Back

Are you waiting to feel ready before taking action in your life or business?

In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins shares a powerful story about fear, self-doubt, and the moment that changed everything—learning to take action before feeling ready.

If you’ve ever struggled with perfectionism, fear of judgment, or feeling “not good enough,” this episode will help you understand why those feelings are normal—and how to move forward anyway.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

•  Why you’ll never feel 100% ready—and why that’s okay 
•  How fear and past experiences shape your confidence 
•  The connection between action and anxiety reduction 
•  Why perfectionism keeps you stuck 
•  How to build confidence through small, consistent action 

Key Takeaway

Confidence is not something you wait for.

👉 It’s something you build by taking action.

 This Episode Is For You If:

•  You’re stuck in overthinking and fear 
•  You’re afraid to be seen or judged 
•  You struggle with perfectionism 
•  You want to grow your business or step into visibility 

Your Brave Move

Take one small action today—even if you don’t feel ready.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey friend, before we jump in, if this podcast has ever helped you take a brave step or think differently or feel less alone, take a moment to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another individual who needs this message today. Because this episode, this is the one what gets you unstuck. Now, there's no such thing as perfect. And if you're waiting to feel ready before taking action, you're going to be waiting for a long time. You know, I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was sitting at the dining room table and we had just finished recording the first episode of Casa de Confidence in April of 2020. Because it was my birthday. It was I launched Casa de Confidence podcast, my other podcast in 2020. Now, I didn't know, you know, anything about recording other than we just spoke into the mic and I had my husband Dan interview me and ask me a bunch of questions about me because I figure the listeners should get to know me. Now my heart was racing, and he's like, okay, we're gonna release. And I'm like, oh my God, don't do it, don't do it. What are people gonna think? And all of a sudden I wanted to go and take a class on how to podcast better, or I wanted to maybe practice my answers a little more. And the next thing you know, I just said, just do it, just hit go. And I had a lot of thoughts, you know, about waiting, about reviewing it again, about thinking that it was not good enough, about maybe reading about how to be a better host or a better podcaster. And then the thought really hit me. What am I afraid of? I'm a grown-ass woman. I I I whatever. Who's gonna listen? If they don't like it, too bad, so sad. This is me. And here's the truth. Today, you might be seeing me as someone who's incredibly confident, direct, no nonsense. But back then, and even in other times now, I don't always feel like I've got my shit together. I know I'm being a little potty mouth today, but the reason that I want to talk about this is because we always see someone and think, oh my God, they got it all going on. But I still feel terrified. And we have this idea that confident people don't feel fear, and that once you become successful, you somehow become immune to self-doubt. And nope, that's just not how it happens. And you just learn to move with it to understand that, hey, there it is. I'm feeling uncertain. I'm gonna keep going. And what you may not know is that unless you didn't watch my TED Talk, but for me, I was bullied in the middle school. And I grew up being very confident of myself, you know, as in a young age. But then all of a sudden I moved to Miami, a new school, and boy, were they mean girls out there. And I was humiliated in some ways. You know, I look back at that little girl and I think, oh, I wish I could go back and stand up for her. And here's the wild part. Even though I went through all of that, I still walk into a room now and I remind myself that it's gonna feel uncertain. Talking to the new person is not gonna come naturally necessarily, but that this is me, and I can be kind and ask them about themselves rather than focusing on myself. And what ends up happening is I show up, I speak up, and I become visible. And that's how we allow ourselves to take shape into something that is different from the shrinking violet. You know, becoming who you are means that we are going to question, am I being judged? Am I being labeled? And you're going to keep playing small if you're sitting around asking yourself these questions. So if you're asking, how do I go from someone that is the shrinking violet to sitting as Starbucks and all of a sudden making friends in line? Well, it starts happily with one simple step. And it's not magically, by the way, is you just show up over and over and over again. And every time that you feel like, oh, I don't know what they're gonna think about me, just say, hey, I like your shirt. Or if you are in a group, you know, that maybe you don't know anybody, just say, tell me a little bit about you. Tell me the words tell me open up a whole slew of conversation. People love talking about themselves. And you don't have to worry about talking about yourself. And now here's the thing: creating something new, creating a new confident you is going to be terrifying at times. And if you have a business, this is something that is going to hold you back if you are not able to really put yourself out there. But my friend, you have a secret expertise that the world needs to hear. And if you are not sharing with the world what you do, who you are, and how you can help people, no one is going to come and knock on the door and give you money. You are going to feel exposed and scared and overwhelmed, like you're not good enough. And that's fine. But building a business requires visibility. Growing in a career or impact requires you being front and center. Now, you don't have to be on stage, you don't have to have a following, a gazillion million followers. You just have to show up and show up in front of the right people. And honestly, if you don't feel like you're scared of showing up, then I'd be concerned because you have to know that humanity, our human beings, are always going to be scared of something that is new to us. But you will never feel ready enough. So why not take the leap today? Why not? Well, not even a leap. You can take the first step because if you're waiting for confidence and clarity and certainty before you take action, you're going to be stuck in a loop. You know, confidence doesn't come before action, it comes because of action. And here's something powerful: taking action will actually reduce your anxiety. So when you're sitting around overthinking, your brain is going to spiral. But when you move, your brain is going to stabilize. And you know, there's a quote that I love, and it says, failure is a prerequisite for success. And if you want success, double your rate of failure. Translation stop trying to get it right. Start trying. And here's your brave move for today, my friend. Take one small action before this day ends. Maybe you're going to make that post. Maybe you're going to reach out to someone. Maybe you're going to speak up at work. Just one small action. Send that email. You know, make the thing, say the thing. Then tomorrow, do it again. Because progress, not perfection, is what changes your life. And again, if you are looking for more resources, if you're looking for support, make sure that one, you join the free community. The link is in the show notes. Or if you are looking to get other free resources, go to my website, goconfidentlycoaching.com. Make sure that you share this episode with someone who may need to hear it. Because that person may be delaying their life and delaying what they want, or maybe this is you, but taking action is the thing that will move you forward because we don't need more time. We need more brave moves. Until tomorrow.