Perfect Timing: The Lie We All Tell Ourselves

 July 8, 2022

“I’ve always wanted to _.”

“Maybe someday I’ll finally _.”

“I wish I could _.”

Read that book. Visit that destination. Start a book club. Have a girlfriend/boyfriend. Start a business, etc. You fill in the blank.

These are all phrases that we’ve either said or thought at some point in our lives. The things we want to do or experience seem to have a tendency to get pushed to the backburner of our lives with the reasoning that, “I’ll get to it eventually, someday it’ll happen, the timing just isn’t right.” Sound familiar?

Well, hold that thought as we take a little detour into what has been going on in my life recently…

For the past six months or more, I had been thinking about starting a blog, I just never got around to doing it. For a variety of reasons. I felt like I should be pouring all my attention and energy into finding a solid career job. I felt severely underqualified to be starting a blog because I am not the most tech savvy person. I felt that I should wait until I could afford to move into my own apartment. I thought it would be better to wait until I had more money. Etc. etc. My list of “reasons” for why to not start a blog went on.

Then in May, some roofing work and major leaks in the ceiling, turned the house and my entire living space upside down. To the point where the fish tank was in the middle of the kitchen, fry pans were on the floor, and the only living space not completely white with dry wall dust for five people to share was one 12 x 8 dining room. To say the least, things have been pure chaos.

And yet, in the middle of all that upheaval, I was reminded of something very important. Important enough to make me finally sit myself down and take the first steps towards starting my blog.

There is no such thing as perfect timing.

You probably skimmed over that so I’ll say it again: There is no such thing as perfect timing.

And what I mean by that is that oftentimes we use timing as a reason to put off or delay doing something when really it’s nothing but an excuse or a lie that we’ve bought into. Have you ever heard people say things like “I’ll start being healthier after the holidays” or “I’ll spend more time with family once things calm down at work.” Those are just examples I’ve heard people say, and half of the time they never end up following through on it because there will always be another holiday around the corner, another project to start at work. And the kicker for why this fallacy of perfect timing is so common and easy to fall into is because there is a grain of truth to it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always a bad idea to wait to do something. We just often procrastinate and put off the wrong things.

For example, I wanted to repaint my room, but I decided to wait a few months until it was warm enough to open up the windows to get rid of the paint fumes.

One of my friends was planning to study abroad in 2020, but because of the pandemic, had to wait until this year (2022) to finally go.

Those are just small examples where the timing really wasn’t right and it was better to wait. I’m not trying to discredit reasons to wait because, as in the two scenarios above, there are legitimate reasons.

There will be better and worse times to do things; to pull those things from the back to the front burners. But what I’m trying to say is that while there will be better and worse times, the timing will never be perfect. (And if it is, then man, what are you waiting for? Don’t ignore that divine green light!) Because we live in an imperfect world. Society could always be better. We always have things we think could be improved about ourselves. There will always be another to-do list. And when I was reminded of that, in a way it felt very freeing. Because the timing will never be perfect we need to realize that a lot of times it’s about doing things despite what’s going on. I don’t have to already have a spare twenty hours a week in order to start a blog. I don’t have to wait until my friend’s birthday to go out for tea with them.

Start being healthy despite the holidays, prioritize spending time with family despite work being crazy because oftentimes, if we don’t start now, if we don’t just do it, whatever it is just keeps getting put off, and put off until it’s too late.

Newton’s first law of motion states that: “A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless acted upon by a force.”

I bring that up because we tend to be like this. Remaining at rest, not acting on those ideas in the back of your head until something changes. For me, it was having my house torn apart. For you, I hope reading this post (instead of demolition) will do the trick.

Now I’m not going to recommend that anyone try starting a blog in the middle of a severe home reno project. But if you’re reading this, you probably can think of one or two things that have been sitting in the back of your mind. Take a conscious look at your life and ask yourself if there is a legitimate reason why you’re choosing to wait or have you bought into the lie of perfect timing?

All rights reserved ©2022 | The Modern Sage Life