My client knew exactly what she wanted: to start her own real estate development shop. She’d known for months. She just kept not getting around to it.
So I asked her a different question than the one she’d been asking herself: if you lost your job today and were forced to start over tomorrow, where would you begin?
She didn’t hesitate. She laid it out step by step: which contacts she’d call first, what she’d need to line up in the first month, even roughly what she’d charge. It was already fully formed. She’d clearly been building this plan in her head for a while, just never on paper, never out loud.
Then she stopped mid-sentence.
“I actually do know where to start,” she said, like she was hearing herself say it for the first time. “I could do this.”
She wasn’t waiting because she wasn’t ready. Readiness was never the obstacle. She’d been ready a long time; she just hadn’t noticed. She was waiting for someone, anyone, to tell her it was allowed.
That’s the trap. The thing you keep putting off probably isn’t a readiness problem. It’s a permission problem, and no one’s coming to grant it but you.
So here’s the question: what would you do if you had no choice but to start over tomorrow? Maybe you’d do exactly what you’re doing now. Or maybe, like my client, you’d surprise yourself with how ready you already are.
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