A young man asked an old wise woman, “When is the best time to plant an oak tree?”
The old wise woman answered, “Twenty years ago.”
Surprised, the young man said, “Well, when is the second best time to plant an oak tree?”
The old wise woman replied, “Right now.”
We all have something that we should have done “twenty years ago”. Perhaps, we should have broken a habit, gone to college, had more children, stayed focused on a goal, learned how to love, or even asked someone for forgiveness. Maybe ten years ago, you should have written that book. Or five years ago, you should have started that business. Or even last year, maybe you should have something that you knew you should have done, but didn’t do.
We can complain, worry, talk down to ourselves, and make excuses all we want about what we should have done way back when. But doing that won’t help anything. It won’t change the fact that what we didn’t do back then can still be done now. Everything that didn’t happen because we procrastinated, we made excuses, we lied to ourselves and even to others, or we simply chose not to do, can be turned around if we make the conscious decision to do what should have been done NOW.
Here are four ways to begin building that oak tree you should have built twenty years ago now.
1. List all the things you started but never finished. David Lloyd George said, “There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks.” If you start something but don’t finish it, then you are a quitter. Good things don’t happen immediately, success doesn’t happen overnight. You will eventually, gradually see good things happen and see positive results if you stick with what you are doing. If it gets hard, press on. If you have no money, keep going. If you lose sleep, miss meals, or lose friends, don’t quit, don’t give up. So, everything that you started but didn’t finish, for whatever reason, go back and finish it NOW.
2. List all of the things that you know you should do, that you thought about doing, that you had good intentions to do, but you never started. Half finished tasks are bad, but tasks that should have been started but never were started are worse. If you thought about starting a business or going back to college, more than likely, you should do that. Again, in spite of the difficulties, choose to press on towards your goals. Start doing what you know you should do NOW.
3. Choose to stop procrastinating. Procrastination is a psychological behavior that affects thousands of people everyday. According to the dictionary, procrastination is “the act or habit of putting off or delaying.” People who procrastinate simply keep up with what happened yesterday. They remain in a state of procrastination because they are constantly trying to do today what they should have done yesterday. Thus on tomorrow they are behind on what they should have done today. Oftentimes, you don’t need more money, more time, more energy, more space, more people, or more of anything else to get the job done. You only need to make a choice. George H. Lonmer said, “Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.” Procrastination can be fixed by making a choice – a choice to do what should be done NOW.
4. Seize the moment NOW. There is no better time to do what needs to be done than right now. Stop waiting for the perfect time, the perfect opportunity, the perfect people, the perfect location, and so on and so on. The perfect this or that will come to the people who step out by faith and do what needs to be done NOW whether they have everything they need or not or whether they can see the light at the end of the tunnel or not. As we all know, tomorrow is not promised to any of us. All we have is right now. This moment. This time. This day. Seize your moment right NOW. Work like there is no tomorrow. Race towards your goals. Fight to make things happen. Seize the day. Seize the hour. Seize the minute. Seize your time NOW.
So, the book you should have written “twenty years ago”, can still be written NOW. The song you should have sung “twenty years ago”, can still be sung NOW. The sermon you should have preached “twenty years ago”, can still be preached NOW. The business you should have started “twenty years ago”, can still be started NOW. The habit you should have broken “twenty years ago”, can still be broken NOW. The lessons you should have learned “twenty years ago”, can still be learned NOW. The people you should have loved “twenty years ago”, can still be loved NOW. The forgiveness you should have extended to a friend “twenty years ago”, can still be given today. Start NOW. Live NOW. Your best time is NOW.
God Bless You!
LIFEology 