There's no such thing as perfect timing

I hate to break this to you, but there’s never a perfect moment in life for anything.

I know, I know. This is particularly devastating news for my procrastinators and “waiters” out there.

Whatever your real reason for putting things off, the best excuse is that the time’s just not right. We all know that that’s not the real reason, and it’s time to fess up and acknowledge that there’s never a perfect moment.

It’s easy to keep delaying your desires. You’ll ask that person to go on a date to the bar when the moment is right. You’ll wait until tomorrow. Next week. Next month. You don’t want to rush it. You’ll know when the time is right. While it may be best to wait until the moment is right in a few circumstances, you know, if, for example, for some reason, you want to get married. That’s something that could affect the rest of your life, so by all means wait. And then wait some more.

But for something like asking the person you’ve been crushing on out to grab a bite, if it’s auditioning for the local theatre, if it’s booking your trip to travel around the world, my god, go and do it. Stop waiting. If you’re looking for your “perfect moment” or your sign that you should do that thing you’ve been wanted to do for so long, this is it.

The perfect time is the present (again, there are some exceptions, but you’re smart you’ll know if your situation is the exception to the rule). To pull in some more fun, old clichés, the present if a gift so fucking unwrap it and get on with your life. There’s a reason we open the Christmas presents under the tree – they’ll be no good if you put them off opening them for too long.

If you find yourself thinking for the third, fourth, or more time “I really want to do ______ but now’s just not a good time.” Well, the chances are that you will never actually get a good time. Stop waiting. Make today that good time.

No one wins when you keep making excuses. Life is meant to be lived. You don’t want to sit on the sidelines waiting for someone to call you. If you don’t make the first move, how will anyone know you want to play?

I’ll stop making these cheesy analogies so long as you stop waiting around wasting your own time. It’s not often you’ll get people taking the time to tell you to get your shit together. People are either too busy living their own lives to be worried about whether you’re making the most of yours, or they’re in the same position, in which case they’re certainly too busy to help guide you.

So lift yourself up by the bootstraps and stop waiting. There is no such thing as good timing. That perfect moment in life is never going to magically appear. You need to make it happen.