Why You're Not Doing the Things You Want to Do

Marta plans to leave her corporate job for a more exciting one at an early-stage start-up. She’s been planning to leave for four years. And yet she hasn’t.

Dean wants to take his real estate practice to a new level by becoming the de facto agent for an up-and-coming neighborhood. He’s wanted to do this for six years. And yet, he hasn’t.

Jenn wants to create a financial plan that will allow her to retire comfortably at 60 years old. But instead, she ignores her monthly budget and spends her money without thought.

Sara wants to get physically strong, but rather than working out, she hits the snooze button every morning and zones out with Netflix every evening.

Kyle has been working on his Ph.D for eleven years with no end in sight.

Julia has an unfinished novel sitting in her bottom desk drawer.

Each of them thinks a lot about the thing they want to do. They've made detailed plans for how to do it. They can even envision how wonderful their lives will be once they’ve done it.

They dream of possibility, but take no action.

Why?

Because possibility makes demands.

From our youngest years, we’re sold this notion of possibility as a light and airy thing. Rainbows, sunrises, fluffy bunnies; anything can happen! Yay possibility!

But the truth is, possibility expects you to sacrifice. It expects you to grow in uncomfortable ways. Possibility isn’t kind. It’s tough. If we heed its call, it will pressure and stress us. It will force us to dance with self-doubt and unworthiness. It will call into question the very idea of who we think we are. But if we ignore possibility, it will haunt us.

That’s why secretly, we all fear it.

And so, we dip our toes into the pool of possibility and then we take them out again. We talk about things we never start. We start things we never finish. And the years slip by faster than we ever could have imagined they would.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, I ask you to consider one simple question:

Where will you be in five years if you don’t act now?

Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?

It's time for action. I’d start here.

Hey there! If you like what you see here, sign-up for my weekly newsletter (green box at top right of your screen on desktop, or under this post on mobile) so you'll never miss a post. I promise I'm not a spammy nightmare. One per week, and that's it.