Hey Reader,

I turned 36 today.

And instead of giving you a list of 36 lessons I’ve learned, which would be a lot for both of us 😂... I want to share one question I’ve been thinking about as this birthday approached:

My life looks very different from the way it did when I turned 35.

• A year ago, the man I’m now married to was still my boyfriend.
• I wasn’t pregnant.
• I wasn’t preparing to become someone’s mother.
• And I had no idea that so many parts of my life would change within the same year.

Some of those changes happened much faster than I expected.

Others are still taking shape.

I’m still figuring out what I want my life and work to look like after the baby arrives.

I’m still building the coaching and media business I’ve imagined for years.

I’m still returning to the newsletter, reconsidering the podcast, creating resources, testing ideas, and learning how to help women stop postponing the things they genuinely want to bring into their lives.

There are things I’m proud of.

There are also things I thought would be further along by now.

And birthdays have a funny way of turning into personal scorecards if we aren’t careful.

• We think about what we expected to have accomplished by this age.
• We compare our lives to what other women seem to have figured out.
• We remember the goals we wrote down on an earlier birthday and quietly judge ourselves for the ones that are still unfinished.

By 36, I thought I would…

I should already have…

If I had started earlier, maybe I would be…

But I don’t want age to become another way of convincing myself that I’m behind.

A birthday isn’t proof that we’ve missed our chance.

It’s simply proof that time is moving.

And time will continue moving whether we make the decision or not.

That doesn’t mean every desire needs an artificial deadline.

It doesn’t mean we need to panic, rush our lives, or turn every birthday into a dramatic reinvention.

But I do think there’s value in asking whether something has remained a “someday” idea for so long that postponing it has become automatic.

• We say we want to write the book.
• Start the business.
• Apply for the opportunity.
• Make the move.
• Date again.
• Create the project.
• Take better care of ourselves.

But because there’s no perfect time to begin, and because starting would require us to face uncertainty, the desire remains somewhere in the background of our lives.

Still important.

Still unfinished.

Still waiting for a version of us who feels more certain than we do today.

I’ve realized that wanting something and giving it a real place in our lives are not the same thing.

A desire begins to change when it receives something tangible:

• A decision.
• Time on the calendar.
• A conversation.
• An invitation.
• A first version.
• A visible commitment.

We don’t have to complete the entire dream before our next birthday.

But we can decide that this is the year it stops being something we only think about.

So, here’s the exercise I’m doing for myself, and the one I want to invite you to try:

The thing I keep calling “someday” is…

If I postpone it for another year, the real cost will be…

The decision I can make now is…

Within the next 72 hours, I will…

That final action doesn’t have to be enormous.

• You might schedule the conversation.
• Open the document and write the first page.
• Tell someone about the idea.
• Enroll in the class.
• Send the application.
• Reserve recurring time on your calendar.
• Make the invitation.

The goal isn’t to prove that you can accomplish everything immediately.

It’s to stop leaving something that matters entirely in the hands of “eventually.”

For me, one of those things is the coaching and media business I want to build.

I don’t want to carry that dream into another year as something I’m endlessly preparing to create.

I want to keep having real conversations.

Making invitations.

Publishing ideas.

Creating useful resources.

Testing imperfect offers.

And allowing the business to become clearer because I’m building it, not because I’ve finally managed to think through every possible detail perfectly.

And because it’s my birthday, I want to do something a little different.

I’m opening three FREE 45-minute Make It Real Sessions for women who have a business or meaningful creative idea they’re ready to stop calling “someday.”

During our conversation, we’ll clarify what you want to create, identify what has been keeping you stuck, and build a realistic 30-day plan to help you begin moving the idea out of your head and into the world.

This isn’t a webinar or a group session.

It will be a real one-on-one coaching conversation focused on your idea, your circumstances, and the next steps that make sense for you.

If you’d like one of the three sessions, hit reply with the words BIRTHDAY SESSION and tell me this:

The idea I want to make real is…

The biggest thing keeping me from moving forward is…

I’ll accept replies through Sunday, October 4 at 8:00 PM ET and contact the three women I believe I can best support with scheduling details.

Consider it my birthday gift to a few of you, and perhaps the moment your “someday” finally receives a place on the calendar.

You don’t have to know how the entire story will unfold before you begin.

You only need to make one decision that allows the next chapter to start.

P.S. If another birthday has arrived and an important goal is still unfinished, please don’t use that as evidence that you’ve failed. Let it become an invitation to decide what you want to do with the year in front of you.

Love creating your mind one day at a time? Forward this to a friend so they can get in on the action and sign up below. Subscribe to The Created Mind Thank you for reading and sharing, Jenny ​​​​

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