Reverse Waiting

The majority of our lives we play the waiting game.

When I was:
5 → I couldn’t wait to learn how to read
10 → I couldn’t wait to hook up w/ girls
15 → I couldn’t wait to drive a car
18 → I couldn’t wait for college

But this conditional waiting game can also be a trap.

If “comparison is the thief of joy” then waiting is its partner in crime. Sure, it’s great to have things to look forward to, but not at the expense of our happiness today.

Conditional happiness (“I’ll be happy when…”) is a great recipe for never actually being happy.

So instead, what if we reversed it?

Fast-forward to when I’m 85… What will I miss?

• I’ll miss my parents
• I’ll miss some of my friends
• I’ll miss waking up without arthritis
• I’ll miss feeling fine after a 5-mile run
• I’ll miss the freedom of booking a flight to Colombia and traveling the world

Writing out what I will miss in the future, forces me to appreciate it today. Not only the things I’m already doing, but also things I could be doing.

Instead of seeing nails and waiting for the hammer (conditional happiness), reverse waiting gives us a hammer to start building now.

The golden lesson that’s taken me the longest to learn… is that this world is malleable. We just have to shape it to our liking.

Once we have something we want, we can go get it. That’s the easy part. The hard part is deciding what we want and getting started.

The opposite of waiting is starting.

Here are two questions to start today.

1. What’s something I’d benefit from TODAY if I started 10 years ago? (ex: learned to code, started a business, shared writing online)
2. What’s something I will benefit from in 10 years if I start today? (hint: often similar answers)

Peak performance is unlocked after iterations. It’s not achieved by thinking. Only by doing.

In the words of Ben Franklin, “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

No more waiting games, time for action baby.