The title to this post came from words that I wrote at the bottom of a sheet of lined yellow paper. I drew a line down the middle of it and at the top were the words "Pros" and "Cons". You've probably had a similar sheet of paper that you have drawn up for yourself when some bigger decision in your life needed to be made.
This particular pro/con list of mine was initiated last summer to help me decide between joining a little start up called Rewire as a partner or remain a mortgage banker for another 21 years. Let me set the scene a little for you:
Last July I was smack in the middle of another great year in mortgage banking and co-laboring with great people. I had been working my craft for over 20 years and was enjoying the financial and status rewards that came along with that job. Wife and kids are happy and safe. I'm happy. I mean, life is good.
Then it happened: I had a conversation with a mentor who asked me a question about just how badly I wanted to get back to the speaking, writing, and teaching aspirations that I had during my earlier years. Bah! Why did he have to ask me that question? It turns out that I did want those things in a bad way and quickly I had a few viable options in front of me to change careers and persue those aspirations. The most interesting of these options was to join one of my best friends in helping to start up and run Rewire.
BUT, remember, things were going so well in my current job that I had worked hard and long to create. Decisions, decisions...
Open on the next scene and there is that yellow sheet of paper in front of me with the line down the middle. Lots of pros are listed on that sheet of paper along with a few cons. But I'm still not sure. Better said, I'm maybe a little scared (OK - fine - a lot scared!). The sheet in front of me was clearly telling me that the right decision was to join Rewire and do it now. But did I have what it would take to fight my Lizard Brain screaming for my tendencies of Control, Familiarity, and Habituation?
The deciding factor was the words that I wrote on the bottom of that page. "If Not Now, When?"
Do you have any "if not now, when" decisions that you need to make in your life? If you are a human being and you're breathing right now, I bet you do.
What decisions are those for you? When do you plan on making them? If you're not in the middle of making that decision now, when will you?
I submit that maybe today is a great day to start on that decision. You know, today, the first day of the rest of your life.
