Stop Waiting For The Perfect Time to Start, All You Have is Today

“That’s something I’ve always wanted to do!”

These were the exact words that were impulsively uttered by someone I had just met over the weekend at a friend’s dinner party.

They were spoken in relation to my own story, of how, at the dawn of 2019, I decided to try something totally different in my professional career and launch my own online lifestyle brand—something I had no prior experience in.

“It’s a dream of mine to design my own shirt line,” he continued.

But more than his words, it was the spark in his eyes that gave it all away.

Isn’t it a thing of magic, the way our spirit shines through when we talk about a dream of ours? Or something we truly love? Now imagine how you would feel if you were actually pursuing it rather than just talking about it—wouldn’t that be something special to experience at least once in your lifetime?

So let me ask you this:

What lights you up? What have you long buried deep under the rubble, and yet, still constantly pecks at the nape of your neck begging you to draw it into the light? What is it you want to build for yourself but are too afraid to try?

We both know there’s something creative inside of you that you want to bring out and explore. My question is, what are you waiting for?

Below are six things you must realize today if you're still waiting for the perfect time to start doing what you really want to be doing with your life.

1. There’ll Never Be a Perfect Time Because You’ll Never be Totally Ready

The biggest injustice you can do for yourself is to sit on the sidelines and wait for the perfect time to arrive—the right time for you to start doing what it is you want to do and create what it is you want to create.

I did this for years upon years, until the day I had a terrible accident; I fractured my spine, tore a knee ligament, and blacked out on the street.

There I was, one moment able to run, in the next, incapable of walking.

This experience taught me an invaluable lesson in life:

Everything you know in your life could be taken away from you at a moment’s glance, so don’t squander your gift of life mindlessly coasting through it. Instead, live it intentionally with courage and gratitude.

Once we become more intentional about who we wish to be and what we wish to do with our time here on earth, we begin to appreciate the time that’s currently being gifted to us.

In other words, we become more present. And as we learn how to live and further immerse ourselves into the present, we begin to realize how precious it actually is to be alive. And when something is precious, why let it pass to waste?

In his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, John Maxwell introduces Jim Rohn’s Law of Diminishing Intent, which states that:

“The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.”

Put another way, the longer you wait to take action, the less likely you will be to take it. Why? Because now you’re creating steep resistance between you and the required action. This yawning gap invites more fear, doubt, and laziness to fill the space. Hence, greater odds are now stacked against you.

Look, as humans, we’re wired to choose the path of least resistance. Why else do we procrastinate? So a way around this is to not let the resistance between where we are and where we want to be, fester and grow.

Remember, we’re not logical creatures, we’re emotional beings. So while it’s crucial that you carve out the space you need to step aside and rationally think of the next logical steps, it’s equally imperative that you act your way into the feeling that you want.

A poet doesn’t rationalize her collection of stanzas that form her poem and think, “it’s ready;” she just feels that it’s ready to be published just as how a musician feels that his composed song is complete and ripe for release.

And the same applies to you and your own form of creation:

You’re never going to be totally ready, but there will come a time when you will feel ready, and that’s when time becomes “the right time.” Your sole responsibility is to align all your efforts today so they can gradually propel you toward that feeling.

Why gradually? Because readiness isn’t something that appears all at once. Readiness is something you earn one inch at a time, at your own pace, and very often, it’s at the cost of dancing with the many sly voices of anxiety, self-doubt, uncertainty, and fear and embracing them with a fierce mind and an open heart.

Reconnect with your intuition and learn how to trust it. It will only guide you forward onto your path and it will not lead you astray.

2. Your Objective is to Build a Raft, Not an Extravagant Boat

There’s a story of two young fishermen who dreamt of voyaging across the open seas. The first decided to focus on the bare necessities. He asked himself: “What’s the simplest and easiest way for me to sail out of here?”

So he collected driftwood, shaped them into a raft, hauled it out into the river, and ventured off to mark the start of a new adventure.

The second opted for something a little more extravagant. He didn’t want to sail in a raft; he wanted to build himself a grand boat made from thick trunks of ancient oaks. So he spent the next year building it. But as soon as the boat’s foundation was ready, he decided he wants to add two leather seats. So another year passed by. And when the seats were finally installed he figured that since he’s going to be sailing around the world, he might as well expand the boat now rather than later to make it a little more spacious and comfortable.

One year turned into two, and two into three, and almost 1,000 sunsets later, the first fisherman returned home to find his friend still exactly where he had left him: On the shore, still building his “perfect” boat.

But to the surprise of the people in the village, the young man hadn’t come back in his modest raft, but rather in a decently-groomed boat flagged with over 50 different emblems from the countries he had visited around the world.

The moral of the story?

Don’t complicate your life or waste your precious time by building a boat on the sidelines. Simplify the process. Focus on what's necessary. Start small and build yourself a raft, slide it into the river stream, and as you actively row and flow in the direction that you please, grow your raft into a boat.

Move, and be with the flow.

In other words, don’t mistake motion for action.

Motion facilitates action, but action is the behaviour that delivers your desired outcome.

Motion is the list of activities that makes you feel like you’re getting things done, when in fact, all that you’re doing is setting the stage to take action—you’re preparing yourself to get something done. Action is when you leverage that motion to work toward the goal you wish to achieve.

Motion is the preparation phase.

Action is the practice phase.

Motion happens on the sidelines.

Action happens on the stream.

See the difference?

3. Your Growth Zone Will Always Begin at The Edge of Your Comfort Zone

There’s an old English adage dating back to the 16th century that says:

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

It essentially means that if we don’t engage in new experiences, we don’t gain new perspectives. And this still holds true today.

From the ancient sailors who weathered storms to explore new lands to the modern digital entrepreneurs who’ve built remote online businesses, life continues to reward those who venture into the unknown.

Why? Because they’re the ones who were willing to get uncomfortable. They’re the ones who tiptoed past the edges. They’re the ones who’ve embraced discomfort and the true nature of the human experience: An always-changing, ever-evolving, growing process.

We are here, on earth, to evolve; that’s why it’s called “human evolution.”

Where does that growth happen?

It begins at the edge of your comfort zone.

Your comfort zone is tempting. It’s that comfy couch that calls you over, wraps you with warmth, and then sulks you deeper into its core. It’s where you are right now. It’s seductive. But linger in it a little too long and it becomes harder to stand up again—the gravitational pull becomes too strong.

And that’s the reason you stay stagnant where you are.

So how do you get out of that comfort zone and walk past its edges?

You must get extremely uncomfortable and dissatisfied with the status quo because discomfort in the status quo is a sign that it’s time to make a change.

We tend to think that discomfort is our enemy. But what if we changed the lens we’re looking through? What if we began to see discomfort for what it is: Our ally. The voice—a pearl of inner wisdom calling upon us to act. A whisper so loud, it trembles our entire body. Our inner guidance telling us that we are meant for more because we are capable of more.

And what if we allow it to move us into action?

Discomfort with your comfort zone is the sign that it’s time for you to step out of that zone and get really uncomfortable as you fully push past the edges and step forward into your growth zone.

Read that line again.

4. It Will Never Be Easy, But it Will Always be Totally Worth it

Not Fade Away is one of the most inspiring autobiographies I’ve ever read. In it, Peter Barton recounts his story as a man who thought he was larger than life.

He spent his prime adult years travelling through the Rocky Mountains in a van, playing a few seasons in a music band and later on teaching as a ski instructor.

Eventually, he earned a Master’s degree from Harvard Business School and become a formidable figure in the creation of the cable television industry in North America. In 1997, his stock fortune from his company alone was valued at over $100 million.

Barton lived through the highs and the lows, but throughout his entertaining stories, he recounts what all entrepreneurs, creatives, and anyone else venturing into the unknown will naturally feel:

“You will feel like a fraud, you will put ridiculous amounts of pressure on yourself, trying to look confident. You will be afraid of falling on your face at every moment, but you will most certainly, undoubtedly, love what you're doing.”

The fourth thing I want you to realize is this: Starting will never be easy. What’s even harder to do is to carry on building what you started. But do you know what’s totally worth it? Looking back at the journey half a decade later and thinking: “I’m so glad and proud of myself for doing this.”

5. The Riskiest Thing You Can Do in Life is to Never Take a Calculated Risk

I find that with creative pursuits, there’s always going to be a calling with us, urging us to give it a shot.

Most of the time, what shackles us in our place are not the inevitable self-doubt or fluctuating waves of confidence we’re bound to experience when trying something new. What holds us back most potently is our fear of the unknown.

• What if I fail?

• What if I lose all my money?

• What if I look like a fool doing it?

All these questions reduce our chances of making a move forward. Instead of walking over to the edge of growth, we recede back to the comfort of our couch.

But do you know what’s the only question you need to answer?

It’s this:

“What happens next?”

• What if I fail, what happens next?

  • I would reflect on my lessons learned, take a break, and later on in the future, whenever I feel like it’s the right time for me, I’ll try again.

• What if I lose all my money, what happens next?

  • I would make sure that doesn’t happen by first building up a safety net, and if I do lose it all by a series of unfortunate events, then do I not have the skills and network I need to find a decent job again?

• What if I look like a fool doing it, what happens next?

  • Am I worried about looking like a fool to myself or to others? Clearly, it’s much more about what other people will think of me. Perhaps I must override that fear of external judgement first. And then I must realize this: I’ll never accomplish anything if I’m afraid of looking bad trying—that’s why it’s called learning how to swim.

Going back to Peter Barton, in Not Fade Away, here’s what he has to say:

"It's not the leap that's dangerous, it's the landing. The only reason a leap is scary is that a landing must inevitably follow. So why not plan that part first? Solve the problem of the landing, then work backwards to the leap. If you think about it that way, the leap becomes the easy part.”

Brilliant advice, something that’s also echoed by Adam Grant in The Originals:

“The most successful originals are not the daredevils who leap before they look. They are the ones who reluctantly tiptoe to the edge of a cliff, calculate the rate of descent, triple-check their parachutes, and set up a safety net at the bottom just in case.”

6. Good Things Happen Gradually, Then All at Once

Finally, I want you to remember this:

Good things happen gradually, then all at once.

You write a poem one day at a time, and then suddenly, you have a collection and a book to sell. You launch a newsletter with zero subscribers, and week after week you send out a new edition, and then suddenly, you have almost 3,000 subscribers reading your work.

People think it’s magic, but really, it’s just a matter of consistency.

And consistency breeds competency.

So, What Are You Waiting For?

Let me ask you again:

What lights you up? What have you long buried deep under the rubble, and yet, still constantly pecks at the nape of your neck begging you to draw it into the light? What is it you want to build for yourself but are too afraid to try?

Most importantly, what are you waiting for?

There will never be a perfect time to start, because all you really have, is today.