Most of us know, on some innate level, that self-actualization can only come from living into our calling and using our full strengths.

My favorite bed-time story that my father used to read to me when I was a child was Doctor Doolittle. It later became a movie. Twice. What I remember most about it was that there was a peculiar animal in the book called a “Push-Me-Pull-You” that looked a little like a Llama. This make-believe creature had a head at both ends of his body. One head wanted to go one way and the other head wanted to go the other way. So he pushed and he pulled and he never got anywhere… much. He spent most of his time stuck in the middle.

Do you ever feel like you’re in the same position as the hapless Push-me-pull-you.…. Stuck in the middle between the dreams you so want to realize and the fear that you might lose everything you have in the process of chasing after them?

It seems like such a risk to go after something as ethereal as a dream.

We put it off.
We dilly-dally.
We make excuses.
We procrastinate.

Endlessly.

We rationalize that we are just being “realistic.”

And the heartbreaking thing is that the more passionate we are about our dreams, THE STRONGER THE PULL OF RESISTANCE!!!! What’s going on here?

Resistance would have you believe that it is your friend. That it is saving you from failure and pain, from looking stupid, being rejected, going broke or wasting your life on fruitless ventures. It’s keeping you safe. But Geez, who needs a friend like that?

Resistance will tell you “You’ve got talent, Kid ….But, you’re not READY yet.”

You don’t have enough credentials.
You don’t have the confidence.
You’ll get out there and fall on your face.
You need more training — a little more practice.

THEN you’ll be ready.

But first, you’ve got to get more exposure.
More credibility.
Maybe you should write a book first.

THEN you’ll be ready.

If you keep listening to the voice of Resistance, you will never be ready. Seriously, is reading one more book, going to one more workshop, listening to one more teleconference REALLY going to make that much difference?

One of my favorite authors, Steven Pressfield, gives some great advice in his book (and if you aren’t familiar with it, you may want to jot this down) The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles tackles resistance head-on. His advice is simple and direct: “Put your butt in the chair.” In other words, if you want to write, put your butt in front of a computer. If you want to be an artist put your butt in front of a canvas.

Movement begets movement. Imperfect Action is better than perfect inaction. Just Do SOMETHING!

The best advice I can give you …. And I’m giving it to me, too, is… START from wherever you are and do the best you can with whatever you’ve got. And KEEP doing it. And in the DOING of it, you will GET GOOD and you will GET PRACTICE and you will DEVELOP CONFIDENCE and you will gain CREDIBILITY.

And eventually, if you stay with it long enough, you will have the chance to build REAL MASTERY.

Keep hanging with me and we’ll get this done. Together.