The Courage to Begin Before You're Ready

Why waiting for perfect conditions is the enemy of meaningful change

A few years ago, I had an idea for what would eventually become Community Rising. I could see how storytelling and shared experience might help communities move beyond surface-level engagement toward genuine connection and collaborative action. I had notebooks full of concepts, frameworks, and possibilities.

I also had a dozen reasons why it wasn't ready yet. The methodology needed more research. I should test it with larger groups. Maybe I needed additional credentials or partnerships. Perhaps I should wait until I had more time to dedicate to development, or more funding to do it properly, or more certainty about how it would all work out.

For months, I carried Community Rising around as a beautiful, incomplete possibility. And it might have stayed that way indefinitely if not for a phone call from a community organizer who was struggling with resident engagement in a local strategic planning process.

"I don't have a perfect solution," I told her, "but I have some ideas about using story and connection that might help. Want to try something experimental?"

Two weeks later, I was sitting in front of fifteen residents, a rough prototype of cards, and absolutely no certainty about what would happen next. What did happen was magic—not because everything went according to plan, but because something real and needed emerged from the willingness to begin before we were ready.

The Myth of Perfect Conditions

We tell ourselves that meaningful work requires perfect conditions: the right timing, adequate resources, sufficient expertise, guaranteed outcomes. But perfect conditions are a myth that keeps good ideas locked away and important work undone.

The communities that most need innovative approaches are often the ones with the least time to wait for perfectly developed solutions. The organizations facing urgent challenges can't pause their work until someone figures out the ideal methodology. The problems that matter most don't wait for us to feel ready.

In my consulting practice, I've noticed that the projects with the greatest impact often begin with someone saying, "I don't know exactly how this will work, but I think it's worth trying." The breakthroughs happen when people choose progress over perfection and iteration over endless planning.

What Readiness Really Looks Like

True readiness isn't about having all the answers—it's about having the right foundation to learn your way forward. It includes:

Clarity about why, even without certainty about how: You don't need to know every step, but you need to know why the work matters and what change you're hoping to create.

Willingness to learn in public: Some of your best learning will happen in front of the people you're trying to serve. This requires humility, transparency, and the courage to admit when something isn't working.

Systems for capturing insights: When you're experimenting, every experience teaches you something. Build in ways to reflect, document, and iterate based on what you discover.

Partners who understand the journey: Surround yourself with people who see experimentation as valuable work, not just preparation for "real" work.

Enough structure to feel safe, enough flexibility to adapt: You need some framework to guide the work, but not so much that you can't respond to what emerges.

The Power of Prototyping

That first Community Rising session was far from perfect. Some questions fell flat. Certain activities took longer than expected. I noticed gaps in the framework that I hadn't anticipated from my desk.

But something profound happened that I never could have predicted from planning alone. When residents began sharing stories about their neighborhood, they weren't just talking about problems—they were remembering why they loved living there. When they described their hopes for their children, they weren't just dreaming—they were identifying shared values that could guide decision-making. By the end of the evening, the group had not only generated ideas for the planning process but had also formed connections that continued long after our session ended. They had become a community in a way that no amount of traditional engagement activities had achieved.

More importantly for the methodology itself, I learned things I never would have discovered through additional research or planning. I saw which elements created genuine connection and which ones felt forced. I understood how the sequencing affected the group's energy and openness. I identified questions that needed refinement and activities that could be simplified.

That "imperfect" prototype taught me more in three hours than months of desk work had accomplished.

The Ripple Effect of Starting

When you begin before you're ready, you don't just advance your own work—you create permission for others to do the same. Your willingness to try something imperfect and incomplete signals that experimentation is valuable, that learning matters more than looking polished, and that good ideas deserve a chance to grow.

The community organizer who invited me to prototype Community Rising has since experimented with adaptations of the methodology in three other contexts. Participants from that first session have brought elements of the approach to their workplace teams and community organizations. The willingness to begin with an imperfect idea has generated innovations none of us could have imagined alone.

Your Turn

What idea are you carrying around that's waiting for perfect conditions? What work matters enough to try, even if you can't guarantee the outcome? The world doesn't need more perfect solutions sitting in notebooks and strategic plans. It needs more people willing to begin with good ideas and the courage to learn their way toward great ones.

Your community is ready. Your mission is urgent. Your idea, however imperfect, deserves a chance to meet the world and become what it's meant to be. The question isn't whether you're ready. The question is: what becomes possible when you begin anyway?

What will you start this week, even if you're not entirely ready?