Are you stuck in learning mode?

Does it feel like there’s always more to study before you’ll be ‘ready’ to start actually doing?

Maybe the thought of putting something you’ve learned into practice is pretty scary?

It’s not just you.

I love to read and learn. It’s a big part of what gives me energy, but it can mean that I can get - and have got - stuck in learning rather than doing.

An example? Five years ago, I completed over 100 hours of coach training, without actually coaching anyone outside of the training room. It felt way too scary.

It’s easy to forget that so much of life isn’t about book learning, but skill based - like getting better at a sport, or playing a musical instrument.

And the only way to get better is to practice.

But it can be SO hard!

We have to go through the awkward stage.

We have to be willing to get it wrong to figure out how to get it right.

So how do we make the way forward feel a little safer? Some ideas:

Start small, use just a bit of what you’ve learned and then grow your range.
Give yourself a certain amount of time for practice, where you are absolutely not aiming to be brilliant.
Find people to practice with, who are up for helping you learn as you go.
See each try as an experiment to learn from. Test, review, learn, go again.
Keep track of your progress - it’s more fun to grow when you can see that you’re growing :-)

In my case, the first step was to fully commit to coaching - the desire to get better at it and grow my experience finally outweighed the fear of getting it wrong!

I signed up for Certification, and found people who were up for letting me learn with them - such a gift.

It made all the difference to get me out of my head - and my books - and into action.

Not comfortable, but so much more useful than being stuck.

And now, almost 1000 hours of coaching in, I’m so pleased I got started.

Are you waiting to do something until you know enough?

What if you trusted you know enough to get started?

And that you can figure out the rest along the way.

Wishing you all a week of putting your learning into practice,