She looked at me with great sadness as she explained why she was not able to pursue her dream of starting her own consulting business.

1. She was too young.

2. She had no business experience.

3. She didn’t have the appropriate education.

4. She couldn’t compete with the established players.

5. She didn’t know if she would be able to get clients.

6. She didn’t know if she could do a good job.

7. She didn’t have any marketing material.

8. She didn’t have any satisfied customers who could refer her to others or provide her with glowing testimonials.

She thought that if she waited five more years she would be ready.

So I asked her to go through the list one more time so that we could see what a profound difference waiting five more years would make.

We reviewed the list and concluded that by waiting five more years:

1. She will be five years less young.

2. She will still have no business experience.

3. She still may not have the appropriate education.

4. She will be competing with established players who now had five additional years of competitive experience.

5. She still won’t know if she would be able to get clients.

6. She still won’t have any hard evidence to prove that she could do a good job.

7. She may have developed some marketing material.

8. She still won’t have any satisfied customers who could refer her to others or provide her with glowing testimonials.

So I asked her to go through the list one more time so that we could see what her world might look like in five years if she took the plunge and dived in right now.

We reviewed the list and concluded that by waiting five more years:

1. She will be the age she is going to be five years from now.

2. She will have five years of business experience.

3. She will have greater clarity around what type of further education would best suit her needs.

4. She will have learned how to compete for business.

5. She will have successfully acquired some clients.

6. She will have hard evidence to prove that she can do a good job.

7. She will have developed some marketing material, or found some other method of getting her story out.

8. She will have satisfied customers who could refer her to others or provide her with glowing testimonials.

So we talked further about the benefits of putting off pursuing our dreams until the time is right.

And we reached a sad conclusion.

There is never a right time.

There are always plenty of good reasons to wait a little longer.

Until everything is in place.

Until we have the right education.

Until we have the right experience.

Until we have the right resources.

Until we have the right economy.

Until we have the right market.

Until everything is in place to absolutely, unequivocally and unconditionally guaranty our success.

And that time will never come, which means it’s going to be a very, very long wait.

There is something inherently wrong in waiting until everything is right.

It’s the wrong attitude.

And so many of us have been guilty of doing this.

Of letting our dreams die because we convinced ourselves of the need to wait before pursuing those dreams.

We waited because we convinced ourselves that what we believed we didn’t have would prevent us from achieving what we really want.

And it’s possible we may have been right.

It’s equally possible we may have been wrong.

It’s entirely possible that the reason we didn’t realize our dream was not because we lacked something but because we didn’t even try – because the time was never right.

And personally I think the pain of failure, as deep as it can be, is never, ever as painful as the pain of not knowing what might have been.

If only we had tried.

By trying, we may indeed fail – or perhaps we may  learn what won’t work and thereby be better prepared for our next attempt.

On the other hand, not trying ensures that there is no possibility of success.

A wise teacher once taught me that the best way to learn something is to go out and teach it.

Now.

Not wait until you have mastered it.

Because teaching it is the fastest pathway to mastering it.

A clever metaphor, don’t you think?

Till we read again.

P.S. My good friends  at Self Connection are holding the price of my book Life Sinks or Soars – the Choice is Yours at $9.99 through the Xmas season.

Click here and they will gladly ship out as many copies as you like. You can also order directly through me at rael@raelkalley.com