Fresh Start Monday #030: What are you waiting for?

I read, The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida last week, and the first page of the book started off with a bang.

Most men make the error of thinking that one day it will be done. They think, “If I can work enough, then one day I could rest.” Or, “One day my woman will understand something and then she will stop complaining.” Or, “I’m only doing this now so that one day I can do what I really want with my life.” The masculine error is to think that eventually things will be different in some fundamental way. They won’t. It never ends. As long as life continues, the creative challenge is to tussle, play, and make love with the present moment while giving your unique gift.

I'm reminded of a trail running group I joined in LA. One evening, we planned to run 8 miles, and a mother with one of those running strollers showed up. I could barely keep pace with her as she pushed her baby in front of her for two hours.

It was a time I wanted to start taking trail running seriously but struggled to commit more miles/hours to prepare for an ultra marathon.

I had moved to LA a few months prior and told myself it wasn't the right time. I still hadn't settled in. I needed to make friends first. Not run for hours in the woods by myself. And I was in the middle of transitioning into coaching.

That night changed everything. It brought an urgency to my life. What was I waiting for?

This new mother had every excuse in the book to wait and run an ultramarathon the following year but decided not to.

I didn't have much in common with her, but it served as a reminder that there's another person out there in the world with the same dreams as you. With the same circumstances. The only difference is they decided not to wait.

The problem with waiting is that it's rational and practical. Our excuses make sense to us. I'm waiting to be more financially secure, or I'm waiting until my kids are out of the house, or I'm waiting for the promotion at work.

If you outline the reasons for not doing something to your parents or friends, they’ll agree with you.

But waiting never ends. Waiting transforms. Waiting for a promotion at work turns into waiting for work to settle down.

The excuses and reasons we give to wait are often the best ways to reframe what's in front of you.

With the running group, the woman might have seen an opportunity to increase the resistance on her runs instead of doing hills. If you're waiting to start a business until you're more financially secure, that could be an opportunity to build an MVP product to test the waters before fully investing.

What are you waiting for?