Don’t Wait Until You Have Experience To Make A Difference

Do you find yourself obsessed with preparation? Do you hesitate making decisions and taking responsibility today because of fear?

Welcome to the club.

I once heard a preacher say that we spend so much time perfecting our aim, that we never actually shoot.

Does that describe you?

Writing this blog has been an absolute joy for me. I’ve learned a ton, have connected with some amazing people, and get to influence others on a daily basis.

But I also fight insecurity every day.

Every. Stinking. Day.

Can I share with you the voices I hear? Maybe they resemble yours.

•  “You’re only 27 and don’t know enough to teach others”
• “Other worship leaders are WAY more qualified than you”
• “You don’t know enough to succeed”
• “So and so is so much better than you”
• “Stop embarrassing yourself and play it safe”

Sound familiar?

Good. Well, I have some bad news and I have some good news.

Bad News and Good News

The bad news?

Those voices are probably right. You probably don’t know enough to teach others. There are others more qualified. There are thousands of people more talented than you. Probably millions, actually.

But you know what?

Who cares?

The good news is, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to wait until some magical age in order to start influencing. You don’t need to wait until you have your master’s degree or your doctorate or your SAT score above a 1200.

You don’t need to be the best at anything to start doing something.

What do you need?

1. You need a passion – What is it that causes you to wake up in the morning? What legacy do you want to leave; what difference do you want to make in the world? Go and do that.

2. You need to befriend failure – If you’re a human, you hesitate to take a risk for fear of failure. What if instead of fearing it, you befriended it? What if you gave yourself the freedom to fail often in 2012? With each failure you’ll get closer and closer to doing something amazing.

3. You need to keep learning – The minute you consider yourself an expert is the minute you’re not even close. What makes someone an expert is that they know they can never “arrive” and they keep pushing themselves to learn. They’re relentless. We usually flip this around and feel we need eons of schooling before we start. Forget it. Start while you learn.

When faced with big decision, we hide. We start hiding behind good things to procrastinate doing the best thing.

We read just one more book. We go get one more degree. We “pray” about it (yes, prayer can be a form of hiding and disobedience).

Decide

Greatness doesn’t start with big stages and big paychecks. It starts with a simple decision today. And you don’t need anything else to make a difference. Experience will come as you go and make something happen.

So stop hesitating and start doing. Today.

Question: what decision are you making today that will make a difference in the world? Let’s challenge each other in the comments.