Ready... steady... stop

 

We prepare. We plan. We build momentum. We get ready. We hold our breath and find our balance, we are steady, but then, instead of go, we… stop.

Not at the start line, not halfway, but right before the finish. Why?

The final stretch isn’t just distance, it’s resistance:

The last 10% of any dream is rarely about effort, it’s about fear. The fear of success. The fear of failure. The fear that what comes next might ask more of us than we’re willing to give.

• So we stall.
• We delay.
• We tell ourselves we’re refining, waiting for a sign, perfecting the timing.

But really, we’re scared of what happens if we actually cross the line.

Almost done is not done:

That homework that sits unfinished, that business idea that never launches, the conversation you rehearse but never have, the relationship that lingers in limbo.

We romanticize the starting line. We glorify hustle. But completion? That requires confrontation with ourselves, our worth, and what success will demand of us next.

Stopping feels safe, but safe isn’t satisfying:

We convince ourselves that stopping is strategic. That maybe the timing wasn’t right. That we’ll pick it up again “soon.”

But deep down, we know:

• Starting was hard.
• Continuing was harder.
• Finishing feels impossible.

Not because we can’t, but because finishing changes things.

• It makes the dream real.
• It makes us accountable.
• It ends the comfort of potential.

The myth of ‘almost’:

“Almost” is a story we use to protect our ego.

• “I almost made it.”
• “I was going to.”
• “It was 90% there.”

But “almost” doesn’t build legacies, completion does, impact does, courage does.

Conclusion: 

"Ready, steady, stop" is a silent epidemic of self-sabotage, but you don’t have to keep stopping at the edge of your own becoming.

Sometimes the bravest thing isn’t starting, it’s finishing, so next time you feel yourself pulling back when you’re closest to the breakthrough, remember:

You’ve already done the hard part, don’t let fear write your final sentence.

Ready. Steady. Go!

If this resonated with you, you might love a free short course worksheet, please email me for a list of topics to choose from, thank you.