Let me tell you something that’ll piss off a lot of people: You don’t need to feel anything to do the thing.
I know, I know. The self-help industrial complex has sold us this fairy tale that we need to “find our passion” or “wait for the right energy” or “feel confident first” before we take action.
Bullshit.
The 6 AM Gym Test
Here’s the simplest example in the world: Your alarm goes off at 6 AM. You promised yourself you’d hit the gym. But guess what? You don’t feel like it. Your bed is warm. Your body is tired. Zero motivation. Zero confidence. Zero inspiration.
So here is my question to you – Can you still go to the gym even if you are tired, do not feel motivated or inspired when you get up?
Is it still possible for you literally move your body from the bed to the gym without the feeling of motivation or inspiration?
If you are being honest with yourself, the answer is YES.
No feeling stops you from doing anything. And that is what WINNERS do.
Winners put on their shoes and go anyway.
Losers scroll Instagram for 45 minutes reading motivational quotes about how they need to “wait until they feel ready.” Then they wonder why nothing changes.
The paradox that champions understand and losers refuse to accept: Action produces momentum. Not the other way around.
Motivation doesn’t create action. Action creates motivation.
Confidence doesn’t create results. Results create confidence.
Inspiration doesn’t fuel movement. Movement fuels inspiration.
Stop Waiting for Feelings
We’ve been sold this romantic nonsense that we need to feel a certain way before we can act.
Let me destroy this myth right now:
Feelings are irrelevant to action.
You can act without feeling ready. You can act without feeling confident. You can act without feeling motivated. You can act without feeling inspired.
Winners do it every single day.
I’ll give you my own example: I stopped myself from coaching CEOs full-time for 8 years because I kept saying “I’m not confident.”
Like I needed some magical confidence certificate before I could help people. The regret of those 8 years almost killed me – I was living, though I was not really alive in those 8 years.
You know what happened in 2021? I stopped waiting and started coaching leaders anyway.
More than 2500 hours of coaching leaders and teams since 2021 (as of Oct 2025).
And guess what showed up AFTER I took action? The confidence I thought I needed BEFORE.
I had it backwards. Most people do.
Confidence is an outcome of taking action, not a prerequisite.
This is what I get paid to tell champions and winners. And yes, when I say this stuff, losers rise up in arms. They’ll tell me I’m being insensitive. Not honoring their “process.”
Cool. Let them stay stuck.
The Language That Keeps You Weak
Listen to how people (including me) trap themselves with words:
- “I’m waiting for confidence to show up”
- “I don’t feel ready yet”
- “When I’m motivated, I’ll start”
- “I need to feel inspired first”
Every single one of these phrases is a delay tactic. You’ve just give the power away to the feelings of your life.
Now listen to how winners talk:
- “I’m doing it no matter what happens”
- “I’m starting before I’m ready”
- “I’m acting regardless of how I feel”
- “I’m moving, and momentum will follow”
- “I am willing to look like a fool, but I am not waiting”
See the difference? One group waits for permission from their feelings. The other group understands that feelings follow action, not the other way around.
Your language creates your reality.
When you speak like someone waiting to feel good enough, you’ll spend your life waiting.
When you speak like someone who acts first and lets results speak, you become unstoppable.
The Success Journal: Your Evidence File
Here’s a tactical move that separates amateurs from professionals:
Create a Success Journal.
Not to track your feelings. Not to journal about your “journey.” But to document the evidence that you’re already powerful.
What Goes In Your Success Journal:
- Every time you acted despite not feeling ready
- Every win—big or small—where you delivered results
- Every problem you solved that you thought you couldn’t
- Every promise you kept to yourself
- Every moment you chose action over comfort
- Every proof point that you’re capable
- Every praise, appreciation or acknowledgement you received.
Why This Works:
Most people forget their own power. They forget what they’ve already accomplished. They dismiss their wins and obsess over their gaps.
(this is not wrong. this is natural. the number one purpose of the brain is to keep us safe – and it does by focusing on the negatives – the failures; instead of the positives – the successes)
Your Success Journal is your evidence file. It reminds you of a simple truth:
You’re already powerful. You’ve already done hard things. You can do them again.
When you’re about to delay on something important, open that journal. Don’t read it to “get motivated.” (that’s a trap)
Read it to remember who you actually are.
Action First. Always.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth that champions embrace:
Action comes first. Everything else follows.
You don’t act AFTER you feel ready. You act, and readiness shows up later.
You don’t act AFTER you feel confident. You act, and confidence builds with each rep.
You don’t act AFTER you feel motivated. You act, and motivation appears as momentum builds.
Think about the last time you crushed something. Did the good feelings come before or after?
After. Always after.
So when you’re lying in bed at 6 AM, here’s what you do:
- Notice the absence of feeling without obeying it. “I notice I don’t feel like going. And I’m going anyway.”
- Open your Success Journal. Read one entry. Remember you’ve done harder things.
- Move immediately. Sit up. Stand up. Put on your shoes. Small actions create momentum.
- Keep the promise you made. Not because you feel like it. Because you said you would. (otherwise you are teaching yourself that you can not count on yourself)
That’s integrity. That’s power. That’s how winners operate.
“Ready” Will Never Come
Let me be brutally honest with you:
“Ready” is a lie.
You will never feel ready. You will never feel confident enough. You will never feel motivated enough.
Because those feelings aren’t prerequisites. They’re outcomes.
As Matthew McConaughey writes in his autobiography Greenlights (one of my favorite books): “If you have jumped into the arena, you are already a winner.”
Not when you feel good about jumping. Not when you’re confident about jumping. Not when you’re motivated to jump.
The moment you jump—regardless of how you feel—you’ve won.
Winners Act. Losers Delay.
Some people will read this and get angry. They’ll say I don’t understand their situation. That it’s not that easy.
You’re right. I never said it was easy.
Simple? Yes. Easy? Hell no.
The principle is simple: Act first, feelings follow.
But doing it? That’s hard. That’s why most people don’t.
They wait for confidence that never arrives.
They wait for motivation that comes and goes.
They wait for inspiration that depends on their mood.
Meanwhile, winners are moving. Building. Shipping. Failing. Learning. Winning.
Not because they feel better. Because they act better.
The Math Is Simple
Every time you act despite not feeling like it, you:
- Build proof of your capability
- Generate actual momentum
- Create real results
- Develop genuine confidence (as a byproduct)
- Get closer to what matters
Every time you delay because you don’t feel ready, you:
- Reinforce the lie that feelings matter more than action
- Stay stuck in the same place
- Prove to yourself that you can’t be trusted
- Give away your power to your emotions
- Get further from what matters
The people I work with—CEOs leading purpose-driven companies, leaders transforming organizations, humans chasing bold ambitions—they’ve all learned this truth:
You don’t need to feel anything to do everything.
Your Move
So here’s what you do today:
Start your Success Journal. Right now. Not when you feel like it.
Write down 25 things you’ve already done that were hard (all my clients do this). Times you acted despite your feelings.
Then tomorrow when you don’t feel like doing the thing you committed to do, open that journal and remember:
You’ve already proven you can act without feeling ready. You’ve done it before. You’ll do it again.
Because here’s the final truth:
The gap between where you are and where you want to be isn’t about feelings.
It’s about action.
Winners understand this. Losers fight it.
Which one are you?
This is the kind of message I get paid to deliver to the champions and winners I work with. If you’re a leader who’s done waiting for “ready” and prepared to act regardless of how you feel, get in touch.