Of the times I’ve taught the FIE International Relocation eCourse I always see a pattern emerge. I call it "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory." You see, the men that  graduate my course have completed about 95% of what they need to move overseas in a long-term, sustainable manner. The other 5% you can’t account for no matter how hard you try–that’s just life.

And these guys are so stoked, at the onset; so fired up with enthusiasm, zest and joie de vivre that I feed off of that positive energy and it allows me to dig into my memory banks and pull out gems of wisdom I’d long since forgotten over my 13 year journey. You’d think every thing was gravy then right? 

WRONG.

Many (not all of them mind you but many) arrive to a certain point, that zentih–then they drop right over a cliff and disappear. It’s like they fly over the Bermuda Triangle. Baffles me, quite frankly.

Can’t quite put my finger on it but I have my suspicions: I think they actually fear VICTORY. I suspect they arrive at a point where they can see success right around the bend; they get an actual glimpse of the "Promised Land" they’ve fantasized so long and often about and subconsciously begin to place new stumbling blocks and obstacles in their paths. Is it because they believe they’ll be disappointed? Do they cave in to family pressure? Who knows.

What I try to get across to them is that you don’t know what’s on the other side until you take that leap of faith. And I teach them the best way to research and experience 80% of what they need to know before ever setting one foot in country. That way, there are no surprises–at least not any unpleasant ones.

So what’s the solution to this Nada? Good question. Glad you asked. Seeing as how I’m not quite sure what it is, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s "perfect picture" syndrome. They expect to have the entire puzzle laid out neatly before they dip their pinky toe in the pool.

Forget perfection. Perfectionism is the enemy of action. Kill it, immediately. Excuses like, "I’ll never have enough scratch" or "My language skills aren’t quite up to par" are just that: excuses. Besides, I show you exactly how to overcome these obstacles or at least mitigate them inside my ecourse. You can’t let perfect stop you from doing.

Remember: it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be good enough.

The more excuses you make the more time you waste from not doing the things YOU want to do. And let me tell you, life outside the Anglosphere can be as mild as a Sunday afternoon jam sandwich or as wild as Disneyland, Six Flags and Las Vegas, on New Years’ Eve while drunk off  Absolut/Red Bulls and rolling on "E". All rolled into one.

I’ll put it like this:

You can turn a bad plan into a good one, but you can’t turn no plan into a good plan.

So get going. Put forth that extra effort no matter how uncomfortable it makes you and GET GOING.

Chew on that one, Pilgrim.

FYONNL!