The Bigger Picture: Beginning Before I Am Ready

Years ago, I traveled to Barcelona with a dear friend to celebrate her birthday. I remember wandering through the streets, discussing topics ranging from family to future vacation plans to our respective careers. I told her then that there was more I wanted to accomplish with Stacy Blackman Consulting; I wanted to explore topics beyond business school applications and tap into other ideas that are personally meaningful to me.

The problem was that my vision was blurry; I did not have a concrete idea or plan. I returned to Los Angeles vowing to work on this expansion and brainstorm my next moves.

A few weeks ago, I went out for a birthday lunch with that same friend. During our conversation, I realized with shock that three years had passed since Barcelona and I had not yet formulated my “plan.” That realization jolted me into action.

I had to do something now and that meant that I had to act before I was ready.

In truth, the times in my life when I have accomplished the most have all been when I took the plunge before I was “ready”.

  • I was not remotely ready to have my first child – it’s now our joke – my son knows he’s my test case!
  • A month after our wedding, my husband and I spontaneously packed up our apartment and traveled the world for four months without much of a plan, which occasionally landed us in interesting predicaments, but was an adventure we will forever treasure.
  • When I launched my first company, which is now part of TheKnot.com, I knew nothing about e-commerce, web design, functional specs, NDAs, drafting business plans, raising money or anything else related to our business. The learning curve was steep that year!
  • My original plan was to apply to business school a year later than I did. A friend in her first year at MIT Sloan advised me to go for it earlier, since it was already on my radar. I pulled together an application with the intention to reapply a year later when I was truly “ready”. However, I ended up being admitted to my dream school and the rest is history!

So here I am, writing a different kind of blog post, sharing a more personal aspect of myself, without much of a plan, and I am doing it before I am ready.

In truth, when are we ever ready? When do we just have piles of  time and resources sitting around, waiting for us to begin? When do we have the perfect plan, the team, the money and everything figured out? I don’t suggest being impulsive and reckless, but I do think that “getting ready” can ultimately be a form of procrastination.

I’ve found that the very best way to get “ready” is to start taking action. Step by step and brick by brick we can build a foundation that makes us “ready”. Whether you are applying to business school, gearing up for a career change, thinking about buying a house or starting a family or hungering to launch a new business, you just need to begin.

Start this week. Start today…before you are ready. Take one step, and then another, and then you are on your way. I will be building by your side!

All my best,
Stacy

 

 

P.S.    Check out three of the very best things I created before I was ready.

Stacy Blackman kiddos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.
*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact

(323) 934-3936
info@StacyBlackman.com

Latest Blog Post

Do This When You Visit the Campus of Your Target B-Schools

You wouldn’t buy a home you hadn’t seen in person first, would you? The average cost of an MBA education at the most elite business schools is over $200,000. Therefore, it makes good sense to ...