As the year wanes and begs for review, I’m checking on my action items and considering my “word of the year.”

This year my word was ACT. Obviously, as the clever pneumonic suggests, it stands for:

A. Stop wasting time analyzing and researching 

C. every option and just do the

T.  freaking thing already even if it’s not perfect. 

See? ACT. Very catchy. 

And just so we’re clear–the fact that you’re reading this means that I did, in fact, at least once, ACT. So boom; nailed my word of the year. 

Steered by my critical eye, fueled by my desire to get it right the first time, and stalled by my propensity to procrastinate, analysis and indecision have, many times, yoyoed me into thinking that moving equaled moving forward. 

Committing to ACT and not just ANALYZE is a stretch for me. I can analyze anywhere–from bed at 4 AM, on a walk, in the shower. Look at me, being all productive with my brain and thinking about things all the time and categorizing options and sifting through scenarios and narrating hypothetical outcomes. Perpetual analysis IS a skillset. 

Unfortunately, this particular skillset is only helpful in small doses, and while it has probably prevented me from making some sub-par decisions, it has undoubtedly spiraled right past some solid opportunities too. 

So last year, I ACTed. I ACTed before I was ready. I ACTed before I knew which options were best. I made appointments; I created content; I recorded video; I shared resources; I trained professionals. I did some things kinda crappy to let myself learn. I chipped away at big projects with slivers of time. I made this website.

Sometimes I did the freaking thing (and, okay, other times I just kept considering the freaking thing). I still haven’t “made a crappy reel,” (a legit item on my action list) but we can’t all be Millennials. I am a work in progress. And that is a good enough thing to be.

There are some roadblocks to ACTing and they come in external and internal formats to facilitate the most well-rounded stumbling.

First, the external roadblock: ACTing often means using up resources of time or money, and I’m a bit of a scarcity girl, so I like to hold tight to both. I know that using time and money to ACT actually creates more time and money, but INVESTING is its own skillset and I’m getting there, mmmkay.

The other roadblock is sitting inside us like the shingles virus–seemingly inactive, dormant until it gets a whiff of confidence and sends its ugly signals through our nerves. 

This roadblock is our inner critic. It tells us that we aren’t good enough, that we don’t know enough, that we couldn’t possibly … 

This block of cinder is a doozy, especially for we introverts who mostly process in our own heads where our own minds don’t easily validate our own ideas, even when logic tells us we know better.

So how to move forward with our ideas when their creation center is convoluted in doubt?

You know the saying, “You have to pay to play?” 

Well, here’s my own little secret:

You have to decide to BE, take the ROLE … (ahem) pretend. You must act like you own the space. You must act as the expert. And once you act like that, you can ACT, move forward, and do the freaking thing. 

For the first five years working as a speech-language pathologist I acted like I knew what I was doing, hoping no one would find out how little I knew. Okay, so I had a master’s degree and knew a few things, but seriously, I was 25 years old, working with a caseload of 80 kids with the widest spectrum of disabilities. Assuming the ROLE of expert was daunting. It was my responsibility to facilitate and document progress with every single window of time I spent with my students. I could either get stuck wondering what to do, feeling overwhelmed with everything I knew I didn’t know, or I could take what I knew about the research, what I knew about each student, and get to work as the expert I didn’t think I was. 

I was now the SLP, but the letters behind my name weren’t giving me the confidence I needed so …

I had to act to ACT. 

And when I was 27 and gave birth to my first baby, I quite literally begged my midwife not to leave my home when her technical midwifery duties were complete because “Who was going to raise this child now?!” I went from pregnant lady to MOTHER within minutes and even Dr. Sears and his Baby Bible writing team hadn’t prepared me to do that freaking thing! But baby needed to be nursed and changed and held and soothed.

I was now the MOTHER so …

I had to act to ACT.

And when I was 40 and set up my little LLC so I could do what I loved on my own terms, one day someone said to me, “Do you do private practice?” And while I had intended to do private practice and was going to do private practice and wanted to start my private practice, I hadn’t yet done private practice, so obviously my answer was, “Yes. I do private practice.” And then I had a client.

I was now a business OWNER so …

I had to act to ACT.

The more I acted, the more I could ACT and the less I needed to act. Clear?

Now guess what?! I am a PRESENTER, CREATOR, and WRITER because I said. But I still have to act to ACT sometimes.

As a parent of teens, as a professional, as a designer (big stretch there), as my own tech support, as a friend, as an organizer, as an extroverted introvert, as a chef (not really happening), as a supportive wife, as a morning person, sometimes I need a little help to get my momentum. Sometimes I have to take the role before I’ve read the script. And when I do, I can start my act. And when I do that, I can ACT, even if it’s a little crappy (because I’m NOT a morning person despite what my alarm clock insists).

What’s holding you back from ACTing? What role can you take to move forward? Who are you and who do you need to be to do what you know you can do? What’s something you can do crappy today to move forward instead of around?

What’s your act to ACT?