Time to Stop Chasing IFs & WHENs

I am guilty.

I am guilty of waiting around for specific events to occur before allowing myself to take action.

When the holidays are over, I will start my diet.

As soon as this next project concludes, I will finish the remaining 3 chapters of my book.

Even worse, I’ve been guilty of making present decisions based purely on future, often unrealistic, hypotheticals.

If I can only lose another 10 pounds and finish my book, my life would be perfect.

As I squander my time creating expectations, I find myself wondering, “Am I actually setting goals or am I just procrastinating – fooling myself into believing that the future will bring a more convenient time to act?”

What if I’m so preoccupied with setting milestones that I completely miss the moment?

Life doesn’t wait.

Neither will ideas.

When I was younger, and even though I had lots more time, I rarely waited. I just did.

I would have preferred to have had a lot more money in the bank when I left Wall Street, at 28 years old, in pursuit of an entrepreneurial venture. Instead, all I really had was a vision, drive and the willingness to accept defeat.

Since my ideas wouldn’t wait, I just threw caution to the wind. A decision I have never come to regret.

Ironically, now that I’m older with less time to waste, I catch myself procrastinating more. I am far more cautious. Perhaps my risk tolerance decreased with maturity.

Tomorrow is just a question mark. I know that it is fruitless to bank on question marks. Yet, I wait.

My children are a constant reminder of how fast the earth spins. There is no time to wait for IFs and WHENs. There isn’t even time to prepare for them. Life only affords us the time to do.

Yet, I still wait.

Until today.

From this moment on, I am making a conscious decision to stop chasing IFs and WHENs. Instead of holding out for hypotheticals, I’m gonna try living in definitives.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

87 blog posts down – 278 more to go…