Taking the plunge

Your vision board isn't responsible for turning your dreams into reality—you are.

Photo by Josiah Gardner on Unsplash

Recently, Cabo Verde goalkeeper, Vozinha, made headlines for being the oldest player to appear in a nation’s World Cup debut. Vozinha started goalkeeping pretty late in sports-standards: he was already 25 years old. He was often overlooked because of his shorter height compared to other goalkeepers. But still, he persevered.

In one of his interviews, Vozinha talked about he has always admired Lionel Messi, saying that sharing a pitch with Messi has always been his dream. And tomorrow (or later today), Vozinha will do just that when Argentina and Cabo Verde face off at the 2026 FIFA World Cup’s round of 32 knockout stage.

I heard that there’s been a buzz online, people half-jokingly saying that they wish Vozinha would reveal his vision board so they can follow his pattern as they manifest their dreams into reality.

But here’s the thing—and of course, I wouldn’t really know; Vozinha could have a vision board tacked over his bed back in his home, after all—I don’t think he relied on vision boards or listened to hundreds of inspirational podcasts before acting on his dreams. I think he just decided to go and do the thing. Decided to act, despite being afraid, despite staring at the face of possible failure and probable defeat.

How many times have we hidden behind the façade of “not yet ready” to disguise the fact that we are afraid? How many times have we put off actually doing things, saying we’ll wait until things get better?

When, really, what we should be doing is less overthinking and planning and strategizing down to the minutest details. More actions. More doing.

Done is better than perfect.

You can’t keep waiting for magic to fall into your lap or for the tides to turn in your favor. For a big break to happen or for the universe to decide that it’s time for things to fall into place. I always say again and again that a big break doesn’t happen overnight—rather, it happens through a series of showing up, of staying consistent, of doing something instead of waiting for the perfect time and the perfect moment.

I know because I can’t count the number of times I pushed back doing things the moment I found myself staring at the face of uncertainty. And it can happen to anyone doing anything. Whether you’re building your freelancing business and need a website for your portfolio. Or you’re about to release a product you’ve spent weeks tweaking. Or you’ve got a half-finished book that you want to start pitching to editors. Often, the time between the birth of an idea and the launching of it is one of the most excruciating moments in your life. It is the moment when doubt creeps in, when you second-guess yourself, when your impostor syndrome plays Oberon and comes at you with every trick, every word of self-sabotage up its sleeve.

I’m not saying vision boards are a bad thing. But when you make your vision board the excuse, saying that you’re not yet ready or that what you have isn’t “perfect” yet, then there’s a problem.

The ancient Greeks believed in Caerus or Kairos, the god of opportunity. He is often depicted with a lock of hair hanging down from his forehead but his back is completely bald—a reminder that you can grab what’s coming at you but can never get hold of what has passed you.

Sometimes, we’re really just afraid of success.

I always think about this quote from Marianne Williamson.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Because success is a scary thing. The weight of responsibility when you succeed, when you hold in your hands the thing that has become bigger than yourself, is enough to make you stop in your tracks, to rethink if this is something you should do, to put off what you were meant to be. But if we want it, if we so desperately crave it, why do we hide from it? Why do we look at it from a distance, never daring to go closer?

The path to your dreams starts with the first step you’ll take today.

I have a Notion board filled with some of my favorite pieces written by other people. They vary in terms of topic. Some of them are narrative journalism articles that tell, in beautiful prose, the story of a person’s life or a place or an event. Others are personal essays, written in a way that is both haunting and resonant.

I used to title that Notion board “Someday I’ll write like this.” But then I realized—why not now? why wait till I am ready? why not start practicing even with the pieces I write today?

It is for this reason that I’m putting in more hours a day for writing. That I’m experimenting with word flow hours and just draft days. That I have strengthened my resolve to respond to pitch calls or submit to literary magazines like I’ve always dreamed of doing, terrified, heart in my throat every time I click submit or send, but still doing it anyway.

You don’t need to listen to another inspirational podcast episode.
You don’t need to test your product or your website for another more week.
You don’t need to wait for your portfolio to have the best examples before announcing your freelance business.
You don’t need to wait for luck to be on your side before you launch whatever you’ve been dreaming of showing the world.
You don’t need to listen to be afraid of your fears saying that what you’ve have isn’t perfect yet, isn’t ready yet.

If Vozinha had let his height or the lack of opportunity deter him, he wouldn’t have made history today. If you keep holding off what you want to because you’re afraid of what might happen—whether failure or success—you’ll find yourself staring at the opportunities that have completely passed you by.

Recently, I’ve been watching the Japanese drama series on Netflix, First Love. The heroine has this man she has feelings for, but she hesitates to tell him how she feels, afraid, perhaps of getting rejected, of failing, or even succeeding. Her colleague, who also likes her, tells her that she should take a chance instead of loving him in silence: “Look forward. Take a breath and go. Even if you get hurt, or embarrassed, in life, you have to take the plunge.”