The Hero Leads

Welcome, The Hero Leads readers. Thank you for following the link from the book to this page.
(If you don’t have a copy yet, you can find it on Amazon.)

Chapter 5: Crossing of the First Threshold

In this stage of the Hero’s Journey, you commit and begin. You have seen the problem, accepted the challenge, and found the guidance you need. What remains is the step itself — the moment when knowing what must be done becomes doing what must be done. The goal at this stage is to take a first visible action that declares the start of your effort.

Questions to ask yourself

• What are you still waiting for, and will that thing ever actually arrive?
• Are you refining your plan as a way of delaying the start?
• What is one concrete step you could take this week that would make your commitment visible?
• What door do you need to close to make your direction real?
• If you don’t begin, what will the cost be to you, to your organization, to the people who need this change?
• What will you wish you had started sooner?

Start before you are ready

There is always a gap between purpose and action. Reflection alone cannot bridge it. At some point, you must step off the shore.

The belief that you must wait until you are fully ready is a trap. It promises that more preparation will lead to certainty, but that day never comes. People don’t go on adventures because they are brave. They become brave by going on adventures. Conditions will never be perfect. The right time is not later, it is now, with what you have.

Once you act, the work becomes visible. Other people can see what you are trying to do. That visibility is uncomfortable. You can be questioned, resisted, or misunderstood. But leadership begins when intention becomes visible. What is the first step you could take today that would make your commitment real to others and to yourself?