The Better Now or the Perfect Later

Dismissing the better now in favor of the perfect later is almost always a dead-end to progress. In some rare cases it is right to hold out for the ideal outcome – but in most situations, the ideal outcome will only manifest itself through your continued faith, trust, and commitment to create it, brick by brick. Almost always, holding out for the "ideal conditions" or the "perfect resolution" is just a tricky form of self-sabotage.

Don't let go of your vision of the perfect – your vision of what is possible is the castle in the sky that will motivate you, inspire you, and connect you with supporters you can't imagine now. Envisioning the highest possibility is the first step to manifestation – it is "believing then seeing."

The other route is "seeing then believing." In our culture, many of us have been led to believe that "reality" is what is. We've developed a default setting of skepticism, either from our upbringing, our schooling, or the lived wake-up calls of rough experiences. 

But we forget that reality is what we perceive it to be. Reality is malleable – and relative. It responds to our intentions and our actions. The problem with "seeing then believing" is that you usually can't see evidence of your ideal until you start to put a piece of your idea into action. If you wait to start building or taking leaps until the stars align, you'll miss the opportunities all around to grow, learn, and create the future you imagine.

We don't lay the bricks when the stars align. The stars align when we start laying the bricks.

We all imagine a better world at the top of the mountain. To get to the mountaintop, we need to start walking, step by step. Every step brings us closer. Every step is progress. Every step is better.