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My wife Colleen wrote a blog post this week called “Just Do It”, which is the mantra she resuscitated over New Year’s as a personal rallying cry for some projects she’s been putting off. Her post got me thinking about our inhibitions and why we have such trouble moving forward sometimes.

So often we get so trapped in our own heads worrying about how we’ll do—or look, or be judged—that we never cross the starting line. In Colleen’s case, she kept pushing off a photo shoot because she wanted to get her hair done, etc. She was letting “perfect be the enemy of done”. Instead, she just went for it…not only getting it done but having fun in the process. And now she’s got momentum to carry into her next task.

I’m getting better about this as I age and my self-confidence grows—which I suspect is true for most people—but I still have a lot of work to do. “Just Doing It” will allow me to break free of self-limitation and accomplish so much more. Given my philosophy of net progress and incrementalism (slow and steady gains compound to big things over time), I suspect hurdling my reservations and fears will only accelerate achievement of my long-term goals.

Certainly, facing one’s discomfort is…well…uncomfortable. Since we know that practice builds skill and muscle memory, it seems evident that we should look for opportunities to lean into this. When I saw the picture Colleen used to promote her post, literally jumping for joy, my initial reaction was “What a wacko! I would never do that.”

Which meant there was only one thing to do.