The time is now, or at least, soon

Procrastination can be a beautiful thing. It staves off burnout, promotes peace of mind, slows life down to a manageable pace. And yet, taken too far, it can lead to regrets. Unfulfilled aspirations. Because time marches on, and doesn't come back. Opportunities are like origami boats floating along the river.

Like origami boats
in the water.

One of the challenges in life, in or outside the workplace, is to identify what things can be reasonably put off for another time, and what things would better serve you being done now. As in, now, pronto. Or at least, given a concrete timeline to begin.

For example, if you want to make a lifestyle change (Diet? Exercise?) putting it off indefinitely is a poor choice. Putting it off to next Monday or even the start of next month, however, can be justified on the grounds that it makes progress easier to track.

On the other hand, such justifications don't always pan out because, again, time marches on, and opportunities are lost.

A couple years back, I received a pay raise. It wasn't much; I was left with just over a hundred dollars extra after deductibles. I had the idea of giving the extra to my mother; after all, my pay had been going up the past couple years and she hadn't really benefitted from it. Then I looked at the pitiful amount and felt embarassed. Wouldn't it make more sense to wait another year, and if my pay went up again, put it all together to give her a more hefty income boost?

Running out of
time.

No. No, it wouldn't. The thing is, I was in my mid-forties and Mom was almost seventy. What if I waited another year and she croaked in the meantime? Sure, that hundred bucks wasn't going to make much of a splash. But I had given her to understand that whatever I got, we would share it. And it was time to deliver. The time was now. Or possibly never.

Even further back, in the year 2019, I was doing my usual annual appraisal of my current work situation and seeing if there were other opportunities out there. Part of me wanted to kick back and extend my contract by another year, and the other part insisted on at least attending a few interviews to see what was what.

Then COVID-19 happened. People got laid off left and right - generally I mean, not the software industry specifically. I decided that terrible though the entire thing was, it was an excellent opportunity. If I accepted that new job offer and it didn't work out, no one was going to question me not having a job, when just about the entire island was facing pretty much the same problem (though for different reasons). But I had to make the decision now. Not next three days, not next week. Now.

When COVID-19 wrecked
the world.

Spoiler alert: the new job didn't work out, but the resultant scenario happened just as I thought it would. I attended job interviews, and no one batted an eyelash when they saw I had that gap in my resume. I had successfully identified an opportunity in the midst of a crisis and taken advantage of it.

There have been several examples of this throughout my life, where I had to go do something. Before, it was a matter of finding a reason to do it; but at some point, it became a matter of finding a reason not to.

Take this blog, for example. When I started it back in 2014, did I wait till I was older and wiser and more professionally experienced before airing my views on a tech blog, for fear of embarrassing myself? No, I got off my ass and did it, public opinion be damned. It's now the tenth year I've been doing this. Has this blog become a resounding success? Also no. But it's a heck of a lot more successful than the blogs that never got started. And I've learned so much from doing this.

Just went out
there and started
this blog.

The "Now or Never" philosphy has been the driving force behind every new programming language I've learned, every tech platform I've tried. Every post-graduate Diploma course I've signed up for. All because I knew there would come a day my body just couldn't handle the rigors of studying while working any more.

Next time? There might not be a next time. And if I want to put things off, I have to be OK with that possibility.

The Time Is Now!

Inaction is a choice like any other, but bear in mind that all choices have an associated cost.

There's no need to jump into anything, of course. However, before deciding to do nothing, you might want to consider what you're missing out on, and if it's really worth it.

No time like the present.
T___T