My youngest son and I have been blessed with ADHD and, either because or in spite of, we share some similar personality traits. One being the need to constantly and consistently verbalize all of our ideas, regardless of how complex, aspirational or on this side of delusional they reside. For me, these verbalizations are frequent and have a tendency to burst forth in the midst of completely unrelated discussion and run the gamut, from learning to sing Happy Birthday on-key (if you heard me sing you would know that this is one of my more delusional aspirations) to buying an old, run down barn – with a vision of its future beauty – existing in my mind alone.
The majority of those within earshot of these frequent and random verbalized bursts of ideas respond with a teasing roll of the eye or a kind, yet dismissive smile – my son listens and embraces each and every one of them. Always the one to tell me to Take Imperfect Action.
Take Imperfect Action. If I were to pick an axiom that defines my life, that would be it: Take Imperfect Action. Against this axiom exists a life list of my verbalizations. Ideas, when acted upon, were really perfect the first, second, not even the third time. And all of them containing not even the smallest residue of regret, because the focus was on the verb, the action – not waiting to begin – fearful that the outcome might not be perfect.
There is Adventure In the action. Just as There is growth in the imperfection. And So much joy in the try.
In this blog, I plan to share the mother lode of my life list of imperfect actions, be they past, present or future. Both in their telling and in the sharing of the lessons learned along the way. Whether your adventures align with mine, or not. My hope is that in sharing my journey you’ll see that the adventure is in the action, the joy is in try. Neither of which exists if the focus is on perfection.