You're not getting any younger.
By Henry Adeleye on September 18, 2015
One of my good friends recently decided to drop his current career to go to flight school and become a pilot. When I asked him what made him decide to take a complete 180-degree turn, he responded, "Better to do it now while I'm still young." There was something profound in that statement. In essence, there's no better time than now. You hear it all the time, but sometimes you just need to hear it again. If you've been hesitant about doing something that scares the crap out of you, there's no reason to wait.
While we sit idly on the sidelines talking ourselves out of everything we want to do, opportunity after opportunity passes us by. You don't speak up in a meeting. The next week someone else is getting praised for your idea. You don't act on that innovative company you've always wanted to start. A couple of months later someone is getting a million dollar deal from Damon on Shark Tank. And he never does any deals. You hold back on asking for that promotion thinking you're not qualified enough. A year later that girl with the laugh you hate who's also less qualified than you gets the job. Now she's your boss. And she fires you. Fortune favors the brave.
It's very easy to stick with the status quo. It's comfortable. It's stress-free. It may not be what makes you happy, but at least you know what you're getting. But at the end of the day, it'll ultimately cause regret. When you look back years later, you'll never wish you had been more comfortable. You'll wish you had taken all those chances you knew you would've been successful at. It never makes sense in the moment, but thinking back, you'll always be able to connect the dots.
So, go ahead and realize your true potential. Take on that new career. Finally ask her out. Stop giving him more chances. Do it before you have kids. If you already have kids, do it before they get old. If they're already old, do it before you die from old age. There's really nothing you can do after that. Go take that leap. A year from now you'll be glad you started today. There's no better time than now.