Stop Waiting and Start Acting
If you'd like to hear the audio version of this (and hear my voice and accent haha!) then click here.
Otherwise - please read on!
I personally hate waiting… Waiting puts me into vulnerable situation. When I am waiting for something it feels like I do accept the fact that the thing won’t happen until a certain period of time is passed. It makes me feel weak. It makes me feel as if things depend on anything else but me…
From the very young age we are taught to wait… We had to wait for the dinner so after that only we could eat the desert.
We had to wait until we grew up… Because there are so many things I could do only then.
That was why I impatiently wanted to grow up fast when I was a child. The gown up life seemed so attractive back then.
And once we grow up we end up waiting on a bigger scale. We keep postponing things for later. We postpone building our dreams, following our passion, getting rid of certain things that make our life miserable… we wait for the right time to start doing things that we’d like to do.
How many times have you heard the phrases like “As soon as the kids grow up…”, “When I have more time…” , “When I find a well-paid job…” , “As soon as we pay the mortgage…”.
The sad things is that very often we and that “right time” never meet up. Just like the horizon… we keep walking towards it but the distance between us seems to stay the same.
The reality proves that you will never have the ideal conditions. There will never be the perfect moment. Life will continue getting on the way and things will keep happening. There will always be new things coming between you and your plans. Always!
How can you be so sure about the future? How can you take the risk of putting off the things that are important to you? What if that right moment never arrives? What if something happens in-between?
Why do we think that time is not precious? Why do we often start living only after a major paradigm shift? Do we have to survive an accident or get a cancer or lose a close one in order to understand that there is no sense to lose time waiting?
You may say that you’ve got too many obligations and time-consuming responsibilities. And I won’t argue back. Not because I know you – most probably I don’t. I won’t argue back because we all do have those obligations and responsibilities.
Do you think that all the successful people were completely free, with no family, no money issues, no problems at all? Well, I have to disappoint you there.
Most of the successful people were exactly in your shoes before. They too had things to deal with, they too did not have the ideal time to take action… but the difference is – they did not wait. They did not sit and wait for the perfect moment. They did not wait until they have time – they made time for the things which were important to them.
When I meet new people and they find out I am a writer many of them tell “I want to write a book too one day”. One day? Which day? You think you will ever get completely free 6 months to sit alone in a forest hut and write that book? You think you will wake up from a knock on the door and when you open it you’ll see that “one day” on your doorway saying“ I’ve come you can start now” ? Something tells me that might not really happen…
What if instead of waiting for that one day you start now? Sooner you start bigger the chances that you’ll actually make it happen.
But if you keep sticking to that dangerous future tense you will risk staying where you are now.
Such an important post! That mindset of waiting connected to fear... Start now, and all the scary things dissolve because we are too busy to notice them. Thank you for being so thoughtful in your writing.
been one of the waiters too )
It's funny that in English, we use the word "waiter" for food server. I was never more busy than when I worked as a waiter.
That's the difference between successful people and failures. Successful people set goals and achieve them. They may not get them done as quickly as they first hoped to get them done, but they get them done. They get them done even if every day they are only taking baby steps towards them.
I'm currently in the middle of Angela Duckworth's book on Grit. She's talking about different levels of objectives. We can lay them out on a sheet of paper. There are lots of small circles on the bottom of the page. Those are things like getting dressed, making the bed, etc.
Then there are a row of medium sized circles above them. Those are things like finishing the Grit book. Getting your master's degree. Losing 10 pounds. They are not life long goals, and they can change and be swapped out often.
Finally, there are the top level very large circles. Those are your life goals. What do you want to accomplish with your life? The author's top life goal was helping children to learn more easily as a psychologist. You may have a couple, or even three top circles, but you don't have very many at all. They rarely change, and you should be sure they include what you're really passionate about.
What are you top circles then? My primary top circles are being a residential security expert, furthering individual liberty for everyone, and being a private investigator. Those are my life long goals that I'll always be working on.
wow - interesting way of looking at goals... never actually thought of it like that. My primary top circle is... finding my primary top circle lol - honestly! Whenever I think I've got it - in few years time I decide to change it because it no longer excites me.... Need deep soul searching and thought digging for that )
interesting postt
Very good post, I will be supporting you, upvote? it would help :)
thank u!
Oh waw ! Crazy! I wrote the kind of same article few days ago too :-)
let me check it out )
Such an interesting subject, I personally liked the way you treated it, in life we must choose either we are with people who do things or with those who watch theme doing their things and waiting to witness their success
I like the way you put it!
Number 1 secret for success is Action.
And number 1 action secret is Action Today Not Tomorrow.
I heard your podcast @anialexander nice and creative podcasting and of course writing :)
We just need to spend less time on thinking and more time on acting.
Thanks!
agree with you 100% . And thanks for the comment of course )