It took Michelangelo four years to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Mona Lisa reportedly took Leonardo da Vinci three years to complete and neither of these examples show how long it took for them to get to a standard to be able to do the paintings.

The list of great works, achievements and highlights of people’s lives could go on forever. We are reminded constantly of the great things people achieve. It is almost like they were born with the gift, a God-given talent some might say.

Imagine if the corridors leading to the Mona Lisa were covered with every mistake Leonardo made during his life; would we still look at the Mona Lisa in the same way.

These talents or achievements don’t happen overnight and never happen without mistakes.

Today we want instant results, we fast forward the TV and wave our mobiles around like our lives depend on getting a signal to send the urgent text reply saying ‘lol’.

We are promised instant results, my inbox is full of instant riches for little or no work or courses that could teach me to read books in a fraction of the time. It is no wonder we get frustrated when our results do not match the hype that is promised or we put on ourselves.

We seem to be in a battle between patting ourselves on the back for any improvement we make and kicking ourselves for not making the improvement quick enough or big enough.

The moment we start anything new we open our awareness to everything associated with it, whether we decide to become a nurse or build our own house suddenly everybody else is already doing it. Not only that they are already far down the line and we immediately feel we are playing catch up.

At random times ideas pop into my head whether it is a blog post or a book idea after some research I nearly always find somebody else has already done it, not only that, they have done it well. I read a lot of blogs, and take particular notice of how much they are shared. It’s like someone bursting me with a pin every time I see a website that is shared by thousands of people. It deflates me, makes me feel like giving up.

Then I get opportunities to go on the radio, or speak at a venue and find myself turning it down or delaying it because I feel I am not ready. I teach people about taking the next step, that leap of faith the one they’ve been avoiding doing because of the fear that something might go wrong. Then I find myself doing the same thing.

If you go to university or college and become a geography teacher you get a certificate to say that you are now ready to teach. No different than becoming an accountant, nurse or police officer. But when it comes to showcasing your music, book or another creative skill that requires judgement by others it is a different story. We are all artist or writers in some way, we all tell our own story in our heads.

Taking that leap and put out in the world what we have to offer is incredibly difficult because we are being judged not by the time and effort we put in but the end result.

We need to take the leap, mistakes don’t define a person as much is not taking the risk.

So to achieve anything you need time to gain the knowledge which is the easy part, more importantly you need experience which can only be gained by taking that leap of faith which is the difficult part but badly needed in order to build up your courage and confidence.

It’s time we shown the world what we’re capable of, start that book or pick up a paintbrush. Do it today.

Today I pledge to stop turning down opportunities.

Please comment what your pledge will be.