About 10 minutes ago I registered for my very first marathon held 5 weeks from now. 15 minutes ago, I was sitting at a cafe and doing my morning reflection and sipping coffee. I had no idea.
3h ago I said yes to a speaking gig that’s taking place tonight.
Most of the time waiting to make a decision is a terrible idea. What other information do we really need? Is there any good reason not to do what you desire?
In 99% of cases, the answer is no. Still, almost all of us like taking our sweet time. We take time to think about stuff that doesn’t require thinking. And we end up making no decisions at all or saying no to what we want.
Instead of a simple binary “yes” or “no,” we choose the “maybe.”
The underlying emotion is fear: the fear of uncertainty, failure and doing the hard thing. Which eventually turns into a habit of indecision that we carry to all areas of our lives.
You may think that people who make decisions on the spot are impulsive and emotional. They don’t want to do the deep thinking and research. They can’t possibly be making good decisions consistently. It will come back bitting their asses.
Or is that so?
I challenge you to ask yourself “what information do I need to make that decision?”
When I booked the marathon earlier, I didn’t know much at all. I’d realized that there is 1) what I want and 2) all the bs excuses that hold me back. I’ve been wanting to run a marathon since I was 16. That’s 8 whole damn years scratching my ass. Doing nothing.
The longer we wait, the less likely it is to happen.
So I googled “marathon in Spain September,” found the earliest one and put down my card info. It took me 4 minutes. I didn’t even know the city where the marathon is held or how far away it is. I didn’t know if I could finish it either. In fact, I haven’t run more than 10k for over a year and I hate running.
There is this powerful belief I’ve been stepping into. Believing in your future self. I know that no matter what problems life throws at me tomorrow, I’ll be able to face them with no trouble. I do not need to know what the problems of tomorrow are.
Now that I’ve made the decision, everything seems super smooth. The place turned out to be 150km away. I’ve run 30k before, so I am certain I can bump it up to 42.2k. I have 10+ professional runner friend to advise me. And the marathon is on Sunday, my cal is clear for then.
This is the mindset of thinking in terms of opportunities instead of problems. It’s about going for what you want and being brave.
I often see people stay in relationships and jobs that they know don’t serve them. Most of us know EXACTLY what we need to do. The decision is obvious. We need to just do it!
The space we create between our desires and decisions is almost always filled with excuses, limiting beliefs and fear. Be smart and kill that space.
Those who act quick win. The world will arrange itself around what you want. Or else you will find yourself adapting to it.
I challenge you to make one decision about what you want really bad and commit. NOW is the best time and the only time there is.
P.S. - this very blog post was written on the spot. Or else it'd never have happened.
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