Yesterday I had a conversation with a dear friend of mine about living in the moment and appreciating the present. It got me thinking about waiting and why as human beings we tend to put things off, procrastinate and wait to do something; whether that’s making a change, recording a vlog, moving somewhere new, starting a fitness routine – the list is endless.
Unfortunately, the catalyst to change seems to arise from a shitty experience. One that has us questioning our own values and at some level our own mortality.
My message today is, don’t wait until it’s too late to change! Stop letting moments pass you by. Stop believing that you have an infinite time on earth and therefore you can waste time now.
The reason we don’t embrace change, fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of not be accepted. Fear of hard work. Fear of shaking up the status quo. Fear, fear, fear. It is this fear that leads us to doubt ourselves, question our capabilities and ultimately destroys our confidence.
Don’t allow fear to get in your way of progress.
Here are four things you can do to help you overcome that fear and assist with making your change:
- Weigh up the pros and cons – what happens if I jump in and start this change vs. what happens if I don’t? (I can guarantee you that if you’ve thought about wanting to make a change within this space there will be more pros than cons)
- Envision the change having occurred – it’s always great to be able to look past where we are into the future and envision ourselves with the change having taken place
- Start small – chunk the change down into bite sized pieces so you can slowly ease yourself forward
- Tell others about the change – whether it’s a friend, colleague or coach it’s always helpful to have someone else who can follow you up and hold you accountable to starting and continuing with your change
For me personally I’d much rather jump in and give something a go rather than feeling stuck doing and being in the same place in the next 3/6/12 months. It doesn’t mean I’m not scared and it definitely doesn’t mean that I’m not worried about failure, but as the Butthole surfers say, “it’s better to regret something you did than something you didn’t do!”
What change can you make today that is going to help you tomorrow?
