You don’t need to feel ready

Mood follows movement.

I heard this line recently and have been mulling it over.

I think it’s true. I’m not sure many people would disagree.

There’s a quiet trap we fall into, which is that we wait to feel ready before we act.

We wait for motivation. For the right mood. For more energy. For clearer skies.

Thinking back, some of the best times I’ve ever had started with me feeling completely average.

Some of the best training sessions I ever had started while feeling flat, uninspired, reluctant. I remember countless mornings where motivation didn’t exist, the warm-up felt heavy, the boat sluggish and my mind was finding ways out of the day.

But something interesting often happened around the middle of the session… A kind of rhythm arrived.

Breathing settled. Timing clicked.

None of this was because I felt great at the start, but instead because I didn’t fall to the level of my feelings but instead stayed in it long enough for things to come together.

Mood followed movement - not the other way round.

We often expect motivation to create action.

In reality, action is what creates motivation.

You don’t need the perfect feeling to begin, you just need a beginning.

More often than not, the energy you’re waiting for is just a little further down the road.

Have you ever experienced this feeling?