I know you’ve heard some variation of the line, “The best time to start was five years ago. The second best time is right now.”
Back in 2020 I was stuck at home, as we all were. And for me that just meant one thing: Time to write uninterrupted. So I wrote a book for a friend who had committed to quitting his job. The book covers all the things you need to do as you prepare to leave “employment” and launch your own business. It’s called the Small Biz Quickstart Workbook.
One of the primary themes of that book is that no decisions are irreversible. (For example, you can incorporate or not incorporate. And you can change this later.) This is a good lesson for life as well.
We often see our lives as an accumulation of the decisions we’ve made. And in some sense, that’s accurate. But just because you made a decision doesn’t mean you can’t reconsider that decision.
If you think of your life as a series of forks in the road, then all the decisions in the past are just choices between turning one way or another. Get a job or go to college? Which college? Move to another city? Which city?
We cannot undo the past, but almost all of the “big” decisions we’ve made can be revisited. And that certainly means we can take up something we’ve wanted to do but never did. Like finally taking a painting class or taking up jogging. Or maybe you might move to that other city you decided against ten years ago.
Yes, it would be nice if you took your first steps five years ago. You’d be well on the way … in whatever it is. But the second best time to get started is right now!
What haven’t you done (yet) that you want to do? Get started!
What skill haven’t you learned (yet) that you want to learn? Take action!
Very often we hear people say things like, “I’ve always wanted to . . ..” Well, let’s be honest. If you’re reading this, you’re not dead yet. So if there’s something you’ve always wanted to do – do it!
You may have read that Laura Ingalls Wilder started writing the “Little House on the Prairie” series at age 65. Similarly, Colonel Sanders started the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise at age 65.
If you search for amazing things done by people in their 90’s and 80’s and 70’s, you’ll find lots of hits. People can be amazing anytime at any age.
Don’t let your past control your future. It’s okay to press the rewind button. And don’t worry about what other people think about your decisions. They probably don’t.
You get to push the reset button on your life anytime you want.
What would you like to do today?
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