Embrace the ‘Good Enough’ Start and Build Momentum Now

Ever caught yourself thinking, “I’ll start when things settle down”? I know I have. It feels so reasonable in the moment. Or you tell yourself, “I’ll begin on Monday.” Or maybe the big one: “I’ll chase that dream when the conditions are just right.”

Let’s be honest. I’ve been there. You’ve been there. We park our lives on the side of the road. We sit in the car, watching everyone else drive past. We’re waiting for a green light that never comes. Waiting for a sign, for the right feeling, for a day that looks perfect.

But think about it. How many Mondays have you saved for a future that never arrives? I’ve lost count of my own. We pick a date. We say, "After the holidays." Or, "When summer starts." Or, "Once work calms down." We treat our biggest hopes and quietest dreams like a beautiful plate we never use. We save it for a special dinner we never have. So it just sits there, unused, while we eat off the ordinary dishes every single day.

What are we waiting for? We wait to feel ready. To feel brave. We wait for a fatter bank account. For our stress to vanish. For a sign from the universe. For the stars to line up just so.

But here’s what I’ve realized, the thing people don’t often say out loud. The stars are already there. They’re lined up for you, right now, exactly where you are. The permission you’re looking for? You already have it. The green light? It’s been inside you the whole time. This isn’t about changing everything in one scary leap. It’s about seeing the plain truth: wanting a “perfect” start is the very thing that stops a “good enough” start. And a “good enough” start is truly all you need.

Let me tell you what happens while we wait. Life keeps moving. Your real life—the messy one, the busy one, the beautiful one—is happening right this second. It’s happening while you wait for a better moment. The joke you could laugh at, the project you could begin, the walk you could take, the first step you could try… it’s all available now. Not later. Now.

We think we’re being smart by waiting. But we’re just building a habit of waiting. We’re practicing how to not live. Every time we choose “someday,” we make it easier to choose “someday” again tomorrow.

So I have to tell you this. You might already know it, deep down. But you need to hear it today. That perfect day isn’t real. It’s a trick of the light. It doesn’t exist. And while you wait for it, your one wild and precious life is moving forward without you. It’s happening without your full heart in it.

The question I have for you is this: How much longer are you willing to just watch it go by?

The Myth of “Someday” is Stealing Your “Today”

We need to talk about the word “Someday.” I think it might be one of the most dangerous words we use. Picture your own “Someday” list for a minute. We all have one. It’s the list in the back of our minds. It’s where we put all the things we want to do, but not right now. “Someday, I’ll get fit.” “Someday, I’ll save more money.” “Someday, I’ll take that class or start that hobby.” “Someday, I’ll reach out to that old friend.”

I was a master of “Someday.” For years, my “Someday” was writing. I dreamed of writing a book. I waited for a quiet house, a clear mind, a big block of inspired free time. I waited for perfect conditions. And you know what happened? Nothing. I wrote nothing. I was so busy waiting for the perfect writing day that I missed thousands of okay writing moments—five minutes in the morning, ten minutes on a lunch break, a few ideas scribbled before bed.

That’s the problem with “Someday.” It feels like a plan, but it’s really a trap. It makes you feel like you’re going to do something big, while it quietly stops you from doing anything small. We tell ourselves we’re waiting for the right time. But we’re really just getting better at waiting.

See how this works in your own life. You have an idea. Something you really want. But then you think, “I can’t start now. I don’t have everything I need.” So you push it to “Someday.” It feels safe there. Comfortable. But it’s not safe at all. It’s where dreams go to be forgotten.

Here’s the hard truth I had to learn: “Someday” isn’t a real day on your calendar. It’s a trick. A day that never actually comes. When you finally get a little time, “Someday” changes. It says, “Now you need a little money.” When you save a little money, it says, “Now you need more confidence.” It always moves away. You can never catch it.

And what do we lose while we try? We lose our “Today.” We lose this day, and then the next. We put our real life on hold. We think, “I’ll be happy when ‘Someday’ comes.” So we don’t let ourselves be happy now. We don’t let ourselves try now. We live in a waiting room, and we call it planning.

We do this together. We all talk about “Someday.” It’s a story we tell each other. “Yeah, I’d love to do that someday too!” It makes us feel like we’re in the same boat. But the boat isn’t moving. It’s just floating, going nowhere.

I’m asking you to see “Someday” for what it is. It’s a thief. It steals your time, your energy, your chances. It takes the life you have right now and swaps it for a dream you may never have.

The person you’ll be “Someday” is made by the things you do today. Not by the things you plan. The “you” reading this—the you that’s maybe tired, or busy, or scared—is the only you that can build anything. The future you is just a ghost made of your current choices.

So, let’s do one simple thing. Pick one thing from your “Someday” list. Just one small thing. Now, ask yourself: What’s the tiniest, easiest step I could take toward that today? I don’t mean the whole journey. I mean one small action. One email. One walk around the block. Five minutes of practice.

When you do that, you break the myth. You stop the thief. You tell “Someday” that it can’t have your “Today.” Your time is now. This minute. This is the only time you’re ever guaranteed. Don’t let an imaginary future steal your very real, very precious present.

Your Life is a Garden, Not a Museum

Picture two very different places with me.

First, a museum. It’s quiet. Everything is clean and in its perfect place. The beautiful things are behind glass. You can look, but you can’t touch. You can’t change anything. It’s all finished, set in stone. A museum’s job is to keep things exactly as they are, forever. It’s about preserving the past.

Now, picture a garden. Your garden. It’s not quiet. You hear birds and bugs. The soil is loose and dark. Some plants are tall. Some are just little sprouts. There might be weeds. Things are always changing. One day a plant has a bud, the next day a flower. You’re not just looking at it. You’re in it, with your hands in the dirt. You are the gardener.

Here’s my big idea for you: You need to stop thinking of your life as a museum, and start seeing it as a garden.

For a long time, I got this wrong. I thought my life was a museum. My job was to make everything look perfect and keep it that way. I was afraid to try new things because I might make a mess. I waited to start projects until I knew exactly how to do them perfectly, so I wouldn't add anything ugly to my collection. I was a guard in my own life, always whispering "Don't touch!" to myself. It was a small, quiet way to live. Nothing ever grew.

Maybe you feel this pressure too. We often think we need the perfect job, the perfect home, the perfect personality. We think our value is in how good our collection looks to others. That’s the museum mindset. It turns you into a caretaker of things that are already over.

The garden mindset is different. A garden isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being alive. In a garden, you get dirty. You plant seeds and some don’t come up. You learn what works. You pull weeds. You water things. You celebrate the small green leaves. You try again.

If your life is a garden, it changes how you see everything.

Your mistakes aren’t disasters. They’re fertilizer. The thing that went wrong last week? The awkward mistake? It’s like old leaves that rot into the soil. It feeds your next try and helps it grow stronger.

Your growth is allowed to be messy. A bean plant doesn’t grow in a straight line. It twists and turns until it finds the sun. You can twist and turn too. You don’t have to have a perfect plan. You just have to grow.

You have to show up regularly. A gardener doesn't only visit when the weather is perfect. They show up on cloudy days and hot days to do a little work. For us, that means doing the small thing even when we don’t feel like it. We tend to our garden.

The good part is in the daily work, not just the result. Sure, we want the flowers and vegetables. But the peaceful feeling comes from the caring—from watering the plants, from checking on the progress. The joy is in the doing.

We are all gardeners. Some of us are staring at an empty patch of dirt, unsure what to plant. Some of us are watering everyone else's garden but forgetting our own.

I’m asking you to pick up your gardening tools. Today. Don't worry about designing the whole backyard. Just look at one small spot.

Pull one weed. That means letting go of one negative thought.

Plant one seed. That means taking one tiny step toward a goal.

Water one plant. That means giving a little love to something that matters to you.

Your life isn’t a finished display behind glass. It’s a living, growing, changing space. And you are the one who tends it. You get to make it grow. So let's get our hands dirty. Let's stop trying to be perfect, and let's start trying to be alive.

Motivation Follows Action (Not the Other Way Around)

We all believe something that just isn’t true. I believed it for years. You probably do, too. We think that to do something hard, we first have to feel ready. We think the feeling comes first. We wait to feel excited, brave, "in the mood." We stare at the task and wait for a wave of energy to lift us up and carry us forward.

We’re waiting for motivation to hit us like a lightning bolt.

So we wait. I’ve waited on my couch, knowing I should get up and start, but waiting for that "ready" feeling. I’ve thought, "I’ll check my phone for a minute, and then I’ll feel like doing it." But the feeling never comes. The motivation never arrives. All that happens is time passes, and I feel worse.

Here’s the truth we need to learn: We have it all backwards.

You don’t find motivation and then act. You act first—and then motivation finds you.

Think of your mind like a cold engine. It won’t just start itself. You have to turn the key and give it a few tries. At first, it sputters and groans. It doesn't sound happy. But if you keep going, it warms up. Soon, it’s running smooth. That smooth run is your motivation. The sputtering start is the action you took when you didn't feel like it.

This is how it works. When you do one small thing, your brain notices. It says, "Oh, we're doing this now?" And it gives you a little reward—a tiny good feeling. That tiny good feeling makes it easier to do the next small thing. Then you get another little reward. One small action starts a chain reaction. The feeling of motivation is the result of the chain, not the first link.

This changes everything. It means we can stop being prisoners of our feelings. We don't have to feel like it to start it.

Here’s what to do instead. A simple plan:

Make a 15-Minute Deal. This is the best trick I know. Look at what you're putting off. Now, talk to yourself. Say: "I don't have to finish it. I don't even have to like it. I just have to do it for 15 minutes. I can handle anything for 15 minutes." Set a timer. Then start. Don't think about the whole huge task. Just think about the next 15 minutes. Almost every time, something magic happens. When the timer beeps, you’re already moving. You have momentum. The motivation you were waiting for has finally shown up. You often decide to keep going.

Move Your Body, Not Your Mood. Stop asking yourself how you feel. Your feelings will lie to you. They’ll tell you to stay on the couch. Instead, tell your body what to do. Don't think, “Do I feel like cleaning?” Just think, “Can I stand up? Can I pick up one thing?” Don't think, “Do I feel like working?” Just think, “Can I open my computer? Can I type one sentence?” You move first. The mood follows.

Cheer for the Start. We always cheer when we finish something. We need to start cheering when we begin. Did you put on your running shoes? Good job! Did you open the book? Fantastic! Did you make the first cut on the project? Celebrate it! This teaches your brain that starting is a win. It makes starting easier next time.

We must forget the idea of the person who is suddenly inspired and does something amazing. That’s a story. For real people like you and me, the amazing thing is the simple, brave choice to start before we feel ready.

You aren’t missing motivation. You’re missing the first step. Take the step. The feeling will come. I’ve seen it happen in my life again and again.

Your job isn’t to wait for the perfect wind to sail your boat. Your job is to pick up the oars and start rowing. Start rowing, and you’ll find the wind. It’s already on its way.

Perfect is the Boring Story No One Reads

You know what I mean. We chase it. I have. I’ve deleted a text ten times before sending it. I’ve put off showing my work because one part wasn’t just right. We hold back our thoughts, our art, our ideas, until they’re polished and shiny with no rough edges. We treat “perfect” like the finish line.

But I want to ask you something. Think about your favorite story. From a book, a movie, or your own life. What makes you love it? Is it because everything went perfectly? Because the hero never stumbled, never doubted, never made a mistake?

No. Of course not. The stories we love are full of mistakes and wrong turns. The hero falls down. They get lost. They say the wrong thing. They try and fail. That’s why we care. We see ourselves in them. We don’t see ourselves in someone who’s perfect. We see ourselves in someone who tries.

Now, think about your life as a book. When you try to be perfect, you’re trying to rip out all the interesting pages. You’re trying to tear out the chapter where you were scared, or the part where you failed and had to start over. You want a book where every page is smooth and every problem is solved easily. But let me tell you a secret: that book is boring. No one wants to read it. Not even you.

I learned this the hard way. Years ago, I wanted to start a blog. I wanted it perfect. I spent months planning. I worried about the design, the name, the first post. I wanted my first idea to be a masterpiece. So I wrote nothing. My perfect blog lived in my head, not on the internet.

Then I saw a friend start her own site. It wasn’t fancy. The colors were simple. She had a few spelling mistakes in her first posts. But she posted every week. She shared stories about things she was learning, even when she wasn’t an expert. People loved it. They commented. They said, “Thank you for writing this. I feel the same way.”

Her website was alive. My perfect website was a ghost. I was writing for an audience of one—my own critical self. She was writing for real people, connecting with them through her honest, imperfect words.

Our flaws aren’t our enemy. They’re what make us real. A scar tells a story of healing. A mended cup holds warmth just as well. The laugh that snorts out of you in a quiet room is the laugh people remember. We connect through our cracks, not our polished surfaces.

When you show only the perfect result, you build a wall. You seem untouchable. People might admire you from a distance, but they won’t feel close. They won’t see themselves in you. But when you show the process—the struggle, the doubt, the try-again spirit—you build a bridge. You say, “I’m human, too.” And that’s a powerful thing to say.

So I’m giving you permission to be interesting, not perfect. Share the project that didn’t work and what it taught you. Post the picture where your eyes are half-closed but you look happy. Say your idea out loud even if it’s not fully formed. Start before you’re a master.

The world has enough perfect, silent statues gathering dust in the mind. What it needs is your real, messy, wonderful voice. Tell the story where you stumble. Tell the story where you get back up. That’s the story we’ll all lean in to hear. That’s the story that changes things. Tell that one. We’re ready to listen.

The “Good Enough” Start is Your Superpower

We’ve talked about the problem—waiting for perfect. Now, let’s talk about the solution. It’s a simple idea, but it changed everything for me. It’s the rule of the “Good Enough” Start.

This isn’t about doing bad work. It’s not about being lazy. It’s about one powerful shift: giving yourself permission to begin before you feel ready. To start with what you have, not with what you wish you had.

I used to think starting meant going big or going home. If I wanted to get healthier, I thought I needed a two-hour workout. The result? I never started. If I wanted to clean the house, I thought I had to do every room. The result? I felt overwhelmed and did nothing. My all-or-nothing thinking gave me nothing, almost every time.

Then, I tried something different. I was tired one evening, but I wanted to move. Instead of a full workout, I told myself, “Just put on your shoes and walk for five minutes. That’s good enough.” It felt too small. Silly. But I did it. And the next day, “good enough” was ten minutes. A week later, I was doing twenty. That small start was a key. It unlocked the door I’d been staring at for months.

The “Good Enough” Start is a superpower because it tricks your brain. Your brain is scared of big, hard things. It tries to protect you by making you avoid them. But a “good enough” task is so small, your brain doesn’t see it as a threat. It says, “Oh, that? That’s easy. We can do that.”

why this works:

• It Makes Starting Easy. The hardest part is always the very beginning. A “good enough” start makes that first step tiny. You can’t really say no. “Organize the entire garage” is a monster. “Take out one box and look through it” is a “good enough” start. Which one are you more likely to do? The small one. And once you do one box, you might just do another.

• It Builds Momentum. Think of a toy wagon. The hardest part is getting it to roll from a stop. Once it’s moving, it’s easier to keep it going. A “good enough” start is the first push. It gets you moving. Once you’re in motion, it’s easier to stay in motion. Writing one sentence (“good enough”) often leads to a paragraph. Making one healthy snack (“good enough”) often leads to a better food choice at dinner.

• It Lets You Show Up Every Day. Big, perfect efforts are exhausting. You can’t do them every day. But you can do a “good enough” version almost every day. And showing up every day with a small action is how real change happens. Doing five minutes of language practice daily is better than a two-hour cram session once a month. Consistency beats intensity every single time.

So, how do we use this superpower today?

Find the Smallest Step. Look at your goal. What’s the very smallest, easiest first thing you could do? If you want to read more, the “good enough” start is reading one page. If you want to cook, it’s chopping one vegetable. Find that tiny step.

Use the Two-Minute Rule. If your “good enough” start takes less than two minutes, do it right now. Hang up one piece of clothing. Wash one dish. Send one quick text. This builds the muscle of starting.

Celebrate Starting, Not Finishing. When you do your “good enough” start, that’s your win. Say to yourself, “Good. I started.” This trains your brain to love beginning, not just ending.

We’ve been taught to wait for the perfect plan. But I’m telling you that the brave start, the humble start, the “good enough” start, is your real power.

Your dream doesn’t need a perfect beginning. It just needs *a* beginning. So pick one thing. Right now. Decide what a “good enough” start looks like for it. And then go do that. Not the whole thing. Just the start.

That first small step is your superpower. Use it.

The Day You Have is the Only Day That Counts

We get this wrong all the time. We look at our big, huge life and feel small. We think, “What can I possibly do in just one day?” So we wait. We tell ourselves that tomorrow will be the real start. Next Monday. Next month. Next year. We’re always waiting for a better day to begin living our better life.

But you need to hear this: There is no “better” day on the calendar. There is only today. And today is always the most important day you will get.

We waste so much of our minds living in two places that don’t exist. We live in the past, going over old mistakes. I do this. You probably do, too. We also live in the future, worrying about problems that haven’t happened yet. We do this while the present moment—the only real moment we have—slips right through our fingers. We miss our own lives because we are not here for them. We’re too busy being somewhere else in our heads.

Here’s the simple, powerful truth: You don’t build your life in the future. You build it right now. You build it with what you do in the next five minutes. The life you want isn’t waiting for you down the road. It’s waiting for you in your next small choice.

Think of it like this. Imagine you have a stone in your hand. This stone is today. In front of you is a big, still pond called “Your Life.” You can stand on the shore forever, holding the stone, wondering what will happen when you throw it. Or, you can throw it. Plunk. When you throw it, the water ripples. It changes. You’ve used your stone. You’ve made something happen.

If you keep the stone in your pocket, nothing changes. The pond stays still. Tomorrow, you’ll get another stone. But you’ll never get today’s stone back. You have to use it or lose it.

This isn’t about putting pressure on yourself to do everything today. It’s about seeing the power you have to do one thing today. You can’t fix your whole life right now. But you can start. You can be a little kinder to yourself today. You can take one small step toward a goal today. You can let go of one old grudge today. You can listen more closely to someone you love today.

Your yesterday is a story in a book that’s already closed. Your tomorrow is a wish on a shelf. But your today? Your today is a tool in your hand. It’s the only tool you can actually use. You can’t use it to rewrite yesterday. You can’t use it to build tomorrow. You can only use it to shape what is happening right here, right now.

So I’m asking you to come back. Come back from the past. Come back from the future. Come back to this room, to this chair, to this breath you’re taking. This is your life. It’s happening right now. The sound around you, the feel of your phone in your hand, the thought in your head—this is it. This is the real stuff.

Don’t wait for a better version of today. Don’t wait until you feel braver or smarter or thinner or richer. That day isn’t coming. The only day you have to be brave with is today. The only day you have to be smart with is today.

You’ve been given this stone. This one, single, irreplaceable stone called Today. The water is calm in front of you. What will you do with it?