“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There’s almost no such thing as ready. There’s only now. And you may as well do it now. I mean, I say that confidently as if I’m about to go bungee jumping or something – I’m not. I’m not a crazed risk taker. But I do think that, generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” – Hugh Laurie

When 2023 rolled around, I psyched myself up to put together a list of goals for the new year. I worked through dreams, my bucket list, and family and work related items in order to create the perfect list — one that would give me purpose and keep me focused on making the best of my chase for more time on this earth. Now that it’s complete, I’m sure I have put together the best life-giving set of goals for this year and I am proud to say that I am already knocking some items out of the park.

In the midst of realizing those things I have set out to do, I felt compelled to come up with a strategy, or perhaps my OCD kicked in! Either way, I went for my routine workout session this morning and decided to begin the day by listening to a book while working out. This led me to reluctantly addressing my calendar, which I rescued from the wall of forgetfulness and re-homed on my “do or die” work station. That led to reviewing, yet again, the last edited draft of my latest manuscript, and finally resulted in me reworking my entire daily schedule. And that brings us to now. I’ve only been working at this for a couple of hours, but I am already exhausted.

The book I listened to this morning was The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It was highly recommended and gifted to me by a good friend. I listened to the entire book in the time it took me to exercise and get halfway through my one-on-one “strategy” meeting with myself. Needless to say, I loved it, and have already put several of the things I learned from this great read to good use. Highly recommend. (Disclaimer: it is not a faith-based book, but a self-help type of read. So, keep what’s helpful and dismiss the rest.)

I mainly realized that I could make a ton of excuses for not executing the things I need or want to do, putting resistance on a pedestal and easily giving into it. But I know me better than that. I know I was made to live a better life and to make good use of the time I have been given. I know of too many people who give up on their dreams because of an illness, a hurtful experience, a failed job interview, or a negative critique about their work. Listen, life can be miserable and that is a given fact that won’t change. However, it is up to us to make something beautiful come out of the misery.

Giving up on working hard to achieve our goals will only bring regrets and unhappiness. And seriously, who desires that?!? I don’t mean to speak for everyone, but I believe most people would want to enjoy success and happiness even while navigating the challenges of life. I know I do! As a writer, I know that overcoming resistance in my life goes beyond knowing how to write; I have to stop procrastinating and actually sit down to write that novel, or finish the manuscript I have been staring at for months. Sometimes, overcoming resistance can be something as simple as making a phone call, going for that interview, registering for a class, starting a workout routine, or choosing a healthier way of living.

Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer resistance. -Steven Pressfield

A good way to evaluate how well (or not so well) you are doing with your life goals with the time you have been given is to ask yourself, “Am I happy where I am at in life?” If the answer is no, then that is a good springboard to help you along in figuring out the next step. You could just sit on that thought and do nothing, but time is of the essence, and it waits for no one.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and live!