What Changed When I Stopped Waiting to Feel Ready

 

If you’ve been waiting to feel confident before you start the thing… this episode is your wake-up call. Whether it’s the workout, the application, the unfiltered photo, or the hard conversation, so many of us put our lives on hold while we wait to feel “ready.” The problem? That feeling rarely shows up first.

In this episode, I’m sharing what changed in my life when I stopped waiting for confidence and started taking action scared. From launching this podcast to stepping on a WBFF stage, posting real photos, and building the Movement With Julie app, I walk you through the real-life moments where I chose action over hesitation, and how that decision completely transformed my self-trust, identity, and growth.

This conversation will help you stop delaying your life and start building confidence the only way it’s actually built: by doing.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why confidence is built through action, not before it
• How waiting to feel ready actually strengthens fear
• The self-trust muscle you grow every time you act scared
• Why exposure shrinks fear over time
• How your identity shifts when you see yourself as someone who takes action
• A simple question to ask yourself when you feel stuck
• Practical examples of what “doing it scared” looks like in real life

If this episode resonated, you may also enjoy: Episode 23: 5 Steps to Building Unshakeable Confidence

https://www.juliealedbetter.com/embrace-your-real/5-steps-to-building-unshakeable-confidence 

If you want more from me, be sure to check out… 

Website: www.juliealedbetter.com

Transcript

 (0:00) Hey, hey beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you (0:06) but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter.

(0:13) I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. (0:19) Stay tuned if you're ready to Embrace Your Real. Let's get it, let's go! (0:32) Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast.

I'm genuinely so happy that you're here with me today. (0:38) Alright, I need to tell you something that I don't know that I've ever fully admitted on here before and it's something that I still struggle with. (0:44) But I struggle way less than I do before.

I used to wait for everything, literally. I'd wait to post the photo until I felt confident enough. (0:52) I'd wait to wear certain outfits until I toned up a bit more or got smaller.

I'd wait to start the big project until I had it all figured out. (0:59) I'd wait to speak up until I felt brave enough to handle whatever response came back. (1:03) And you know what? I was always waiting because that feeling of ready never actually came.

(1:07) Or maybe you can relate to this. Maybe you've been waiting to join a gym until you get in shape first. (1:12) Or waiting to wear the dress until you feel better about your body.

(1:14) Or waiting to start the business, apply for the job, have the conversation, post the unfiltered photo, show up without any makeup. (1:22) Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for some magical moment when confidence just shows up and makes it easier. (1:26) But here's what I learned.

And honestly, it's changed everything for me. (1:30) Confidence doesn't come first. Action does.

(1:33) And today I want to share with you something that actually changed my life. (1:36) When I stopped waiting to feel ready and just started to do the thing scared. (1:41) I'm just going to dive right in.

This is the whole like waiting to feel ready thing. (1:45) Here's the lie that we've been sold. Once I feel confident, then I'll do X, Y, and Z. (1:50) We think confidence is the thing that we need to have before we take action.

(1:53) Like it's a prerequisite. Like we need to collect enough of it first. (1:57) Then we need to store it up.

And then once we've had enough, we finally are able to do the hard thing. (2:02) But that's completely backwards. Confidence isn't something that you find.

(2:06) It's something that you build and you build it by doing the thing that you're scared to do, (2:10) not by waiting until the fear goes away. (2:13) Think about it like this. Have you ever waited to feel ready and then just magically woke up one day, (2:17) totally confident and prepared? Probably not, because that's not how it works.

(2:21) What actually happens is when we wait, we feel more scared so we don't do the thing. (2:27) And then because we didn't do the thing, we then feel less confident, (2:29) which makes us even less likely to do it. And the cycle just keeps going, going, going.

(2:34) Waiting creates more fear, not less. (2:36) And I think that we get this messaging everywhere, right? Social media, self-help culture, (2:40) even well-meaning advice from people around us. We're told fake it till you make it or (2:44) just be more confident, but nobody tells us how.

Nobody tells us that the only way to get (2:48) confidence is to do the thing that scares you and prove to yourself that you can handle it. (2:52) I remember the moment I realized I was stuck in this pattern. I had been putting off so many things, (2:56) like big things, small things, because I was just waiting for some future version of myself (3:00) who had it all together, who wasn't scared, who felt ready.

And one day it hit me like that (3:04) version of me doesn't exist. She never will, because even future Julie is going to have fears (3:08) and doubts and moments where she doesn't feel ready. So if I kept waiting for her to show up, (3:13) I was going to be waiting forever.

And once I realized that I started doing things differently (3:17) and I want to share a few specific moments where I actually took action before I felt ready, (3:23) because I think that it will help you see kind of what it actually looks like. (3:28) Number one, starting this podcast. This is a big one.

When I first thought about starting (3:33) Embrace Your Rail, I was terrified. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't have all the (3:37) equipment or the perfect setup.

I wasn't sure anyone would even listen and I definitely (3:42) didn't feel ready. I didn't feel qualified. I didn't feel like I had it all figured out (3:46) enough to teach anyone anything, but something inside me just said start.

Just record one (3:52) episode and see what happens. So I did and it was messy and I stumbled over my words and I probably (3:56) said, um, a thousand times, but I hit publish anyways, and then I recorded another one and (4:00) another. And you know what? The confidence I was waiting for, it came not before I started, (4:04) but because I started with each episode, I got a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more (4:10) clear, a little bit more myself.

And if I would have waited to feel ready, this podcast wouldn't (4:18) have existed. And I wouldn't have connected with thousands of women like you who told me that this (4:23) show has changed their lives. Another one is launching movement with Julia.

This was a massive (4:28) one, like creating an app, a whole program, putting out into the world. It felt like a (4:31) huge and scary thing. I didn't feel ready.

I didn't feel like I had all the answers. (4:36) I kept thinking, what if people don't like it? What if it doesn't work? (4:39) What if I'm not good enough to help people? But I did it anyways. I believed in the mission.

(4:44) I believe that women needed this. And I knew that if I waited until it was a hundred percent ready, (4:48) it would never happen. And you know what? It was not perfect when it launches still not perfect.

(4:52) And I'm still able to serve thousands of women, hundreds of thousands of women have been inside (4:57) the app over the last five years. And that is incredible, right? There are, there were, (5:02) and there are still things that I need to fix and improve, but so many women have used it to (5:07) build stronger bodies and more competent lives. And that wouldn't have happened if I've waited.

(5:12) Right? And so here's what I want you to understand that in every single one of these situations, (5:18) another one being that I was so terrified to become a mom. I did not think that I was (5:24) capable of it. I told myself, I'm not going to be a good enough mom.

There's no way I was not (5:29) a kid person growing up. So what makes me think that I'm going to be, you know, good with my (5:33) own kid. And that could not be further from the truth.

I am so grateful that I decided, (5:39) you know what? This is a part of my DNA. I truly believe that God has placed me on this (5:44) earth to become a parent, to experience motherhood. I cannot imagine my life without it.

And I'm so (5:52) grateful that I just dove headfirst because if I would have kept waiting until I was quote unquote (5:58) ready, I would have waited until I was 55 and then 60 and 65. I would have never been ready. (6:04) Right? And so even though I waited, you know, longer than most women, I'm, I was 34 when I (6:10) had him actually just turned 35.

So I was 34 when I was pregnant with him, turned 35. And then two (6:14) days later I had Blake. I am so grateful that I did it, but I want you to understand in every (6:21) single one of these situations, confidence didn't come first.

Action did. I didn't wake up one day (6:26) feeling brave enough to start the podcast. I started the podcast and then bravery followed.

(6:32) Like I didn't wait to launch my app. I just said, you know, it's going to be messy. It's (6:38) going to be real, but I know that this is going to help so many women and that's why (6:41) I want to do it.

And so I launched it and it since has served so many thousands of women (6:46) and I could not be more grateful for that. Uh, same with motherhood. Like I just said, (6:51) you know, Josh and I had our, our discussion and, you know, Josh and I were having so many (6:56) like conversations before we got pregnant of just like, okay, are we ready for this? (7:02) And like, we both came to the conclusion we're never going to be ready.

And the biggest thing (7:06) for us was just like trying to envision our life when we're 70 and 80 and being like, (7:11) you know, we want to have a full table. We want to have a full family at our table. (7:16) Like we want to be able to have and pass on legacy and we have already experienced and (7:22) surpassed every goal that we had set in our twenties and in our early thirties.

(7:27) Like what's the point of life if you don't get to pass on legacy of like what God has shown you (7:34) and like the goodness of God and the importance of life here on this earth. And I don't know. (7:39) So for us, like that was just a huge thing and we both were like, we're never going to be ready.

(7:43) And so we just dove right in and I just am so, so thankful. And what has changed because of all (7:52) of these things, like my self trust has grown. Every time I did something before that I felt (7:57) ready, every time I did something before I felt ready, I proved to myself that I was capable, (8:02) that I could handle hard things, that I could survive discomfort and come out stronger on (8:05) the other side.

And the more that I did that, the more I started to trust myself, (8:09) not in a, I've got it all figured out kind of way, but in a, I know I can figure it out (8:13) as I go kind of way. My fears got smaller, not because they went away, but because I learned (8:18) that doing the thing that scared me, didn't actually kill me. It actually made me feel (8:23) more alive.

The first time that I posted my podcast and like my first episode, my heart (8:29) was racing, but the 10 time still a little nervous. The hundredth time, it barely even (8:34) registered. Like my exposure to it actually shrank the fear and waiting expands it.

(8:42) My identity really did shift, right? Like I stopped seeing myself as the person who's (8:46) waiting to be ready and started seeing myself as a person who does hard things. (8:51) And that shift, like that's everything because once you start to see yourself as someone who (8:54) takes action, despite fear, you start showing up differently in every part of your life. You (8:58) stop waiting for permission.

You stop waiting for perfect conditions. You stop waiting for your (9:02) confidence to magically appear. You just do it.

And then you build from there. Okay. (9:08) So how do you actually do this? How do you actually start taking action before you feel ready? (9:12) Here's what I want you to do.

Pick one thing that you've been waiting to feel ready for. (9:17) Just one, don't overwhelm yourself with 10 things. Just pick the one thing that if you (9:22) did this week, that would prove to yourself that you're capable.

Maybe it's posting a photo (9:27) without the filter. Maybe it's wearing it out, but that you've been saving for when you're (9:31) ready. Maybe it's starting the workout program instead of waiting for Monday.

(9:35) Maybe it's signing up for the class or the program, the opportunity that scared you. Maybe (9:39) it's having a conversation that you've been avoiding. Maybe it's applying for the thing, (9:43) even though you're not sure that you're qualified, whatever it is, (9:48) I want you to ask yourself the question.

Like what would I do if I trusted myself? Not (9:53) what would I do if I felt confident? Because confidence might not be there yet, but trust, (9:57) you can choose to trust yourself right now. You can decide I'm going to do this thing (10:02) and I'm going to trust that I can handle whatever happens and then just do it. Do it (10:06) scared, do it imperfectly, do it even though your hands are shaking and your heart is racing (10:10) because here's the truth.

You don't have to feel brave to be brave. You just have to act (10:17) and then bravery will follow. This is what I really want you to take away from today.

(10:22) If you are listening to this and thinking, but what if I fail? What if it doesn't go well? (10:25) I want you to know you are already enough right now. You really are. You don't need to have it (10:30) all figured out.

You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to have it all figured out. You (10:34) don't need to be perfect.

You just need to start. If this episode resonated with you, (10:40) I know you will also love an OG episode. Okay.

This is one of my first 20, 20 plus episode 23. (10:47) So give me a little bit of grace cause I was just doing it, but I think it's a good one. (10:51) Episode 23, five steps to building unshakable confidence.

I will link that in the show notes (10:56) below so that you can easily go check this out. And if this message landed with you today, (11:00) I would love it if you just shared it with someone who needs permission to just start before (11:04) they're ready. You never know whose life you might change.

And if you've been waiting to feel (11:08) ready before starting a workout program, this is your sign. You can check out my movement with (11:13) Julie Dumbo only workouts. It's designed to meet you exactly where you're at.

Whether you feel (11:17) ready or not, you can go to sale. That's S A L E dot movement with Julie.com five brand new workouts (11:23) every single week released on Saturdays. And you have a lower body and upper body, (11:29) a cardio and core shoulders and glutes full body.

You have a 30 minute option or 60 minute option. (11:34) It's completely customizable to you. But again, it's designed to meet you exactly where you're at, (11:40) whether you're ready or not, just go, go in the app, click it.

Just follow along. Trust me. (11:46) The confidence will come.

You've got this. I believe in you. Now go do your thing and (11:50) I'll catch you in the next episode.

Love ya. All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, (12:05) but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me (12:11) on the gram, be sure to do so.

Julie A Ledbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily (12:16) post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and (12:22) heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to apple podcast to never miss an (12:27) episode.

Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave (12:33) you with one last thought.

The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones (12:38) who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes (12:45) so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace a real because you're worth it.

 
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