Begin

“Don’t wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”

• Alan Cohen (b. 1950), author of almost two dozen inspirational books

Early in my career, I was fascinated by motivational speakers. Zig Ziglar was one that all budding sales pros were encouraged to see. Zig would give us a “check-up from the neck up,” and we’d all run off feeling motivated and ready to run through walls for about 36 hours. There was value, most of which came from a decision to sustain whatever motivation they gave us. Still, the beginning was key.

It’s pretty difficult to sustain what we don’t begin.

Times of transition are maddeningly complicated. Signals, whether mixed, non-existent, conflicting, misread or just plain missed — even the simplest of them, can be hard to see through the fog if we’re just standing still.

A consistent theme across all the good ones, and I’m not just talking about motivational speakers now, is the idea of a beginning. Getting started. Sports analogy aside, Michael Jordan said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” My beloved high school coach, Herb, told me and the Tallest of The Three, “Hes, shooters shoot.”

For those of us with Faith, a passage in the Bible instructs us to “be still and know that I am God.” Over time, I wonder if I’ve often wrecked that instruction, either by being too still too long or by taking my shot before I’m open.

The cool thing about the beginning is that it doesn’t have to be an all-in-moon shot. It can be as simple as a single step. A note. A question. And, back to the last paragraph, it’s easier to hear the instructions if we’re listening for them.