Now or Never: Is Now The Right Time to Pursue Your Dream?

What are you putting off, waiting for the "perfect" timing? In this episode I share a conversation I had with a jewish man who shared his regret for not taking birthright and how it spotlights a part of us that is waiting for the "right time", which doesn't exist. It's time to move in the direction of your dreams. This story will help you understand why now is the time and what small actions you can start taking today.

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Transcript

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Most people spend their entire lives stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want and what's important. I used to live the way the comfort job and I hate it. As a result, I have my own coffee company, I'm just coming somebody, and I get this comfortable. You too can live a life that you want, but it starts with you want. It starts with the new. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse. You're listening to the podcast. One life. But maybe you're just too afraid to take action on. Uh, this one is called Now or Never. And when you think about it, when is there ever a good time to start that new career, to ask the one that you're interested on on a date or to take that trip? When is there ever a good time? If you were to ask yourself that question, likely you are going to find a million reasons as to why now is not the right time, and then what happens next? You delay, you put it out, and pretty soon you've put it out so far. One, you either lose the feeling of it, or two, you've then built up so much fear that taking the action seems even bigger rather than just taking the opportunity as it was arising. So, this this episode here, or this um, this podcast episode is related to a conversation I had with a person in line at Costco. I was in line at Costco, and the from moment surprisingly, there weren't that many people here at that time. But there was one gentleman in front of me, and he looked very Italian. His accent had a he had an Italian accent. And when I looked in his card, he had two things of olive oil. I was like, this guy is Italian. He was asking one of the cashiers just to check the price, see which one was uh the more to see which one was the more expensive between the two. He had a Costco brand and he had another brand from Tunisia. So watching this entire exchange go go down, uh, and then he was like, Oh, maybe I'll just go to the Costco. I I chimed in, haven't had experience with that one. I was like, I don't know if you want to do that one. Go with the Tunisian one. And he's like, Well, why should I do that one? Well, I was like, I was like, because a friend of mine has it. It turns out it was the wrong brand. My friend does not have that brand. But, anyways, I did have experience with the Costco olive oil, and it was very, very thin. If you like olive oil, thin olive oil is probably the biggest turn-off, at least for us Italians. So I advised him and I said, I would go with that one. As he rang them up, turns out the one I suggested was the less expensive of the two. So he's like, All right, done. I'm going with this one. When I was uh asked him, I said, Well, are you Italian? Where in Italy are you from? He's like, Well, I'm not Italian at all. I'm actually Jewish. I was like, interesting, cool. I I would have thought you look Italian, you sound Italian, and he he he laughed at that. And then I had another follow-up question for him. I said, Why didn't you ever take that trip? And he thought he looked back and he thought about it, he said, Well, it just wasn't a good time. There's a lot going on in that region. And uh, you know, between he named off a bunch of different events. He's like, Well, there was the 9-11 and then there was the Iraq war. He just kept piling on reasons as to why it wasn't a good time for him to take the trip. But the the gold, the magic happened after he had said all these reasons why it wasn't the right time. He followed up with that, he said, Well, I regret it. When is there ever a good time? And I said, Yes, that is it. When is there ever a good time? See, if we're waiting for the perfect time, we're never going to find it because there is no perfect time. I can tell you from all of my trips, literally every single one I've ever taken, that there was never the perfect time. Every time I would book a trip, I'm like, oh my God, how am I gonna get away? It seemed like my business would pick up or certain things would happen right when I press that button to buy that ticket. But there's never been a time where I have come back and like, you know what? I wish I didn't go. Never. Right? And and then that's really what it is with life. And I want to reframe this because fear is ultimately what it's called fear, is what's driving it. But I have a new definition of fear that I wanted to share with you, one that I think is very, very powerful. And one of my mentors said that fear is just a poor use of your imagination. So, what does that mean? Means that you are imagining situations, circumstances, things that are less than favorable and going wrong. And as a result of that, it just builds up, you start to ruminate on that and you start to build it up, and all of a sudden, you are there's no way in hell you are ever gonna make a move towards that ambition. So I have a few questions for you that I want just to help you. Maybe, you know, you're there's a desire that you have. If you have, like just mentally think about that right now. Like, what is something that you want to move towards, an ambition that you have? Um, maybe as I mentioned in the beginning, maybe it's asking somebody out on a date, maybe it is moving to a different city, maybe it is starting your business, maybe it is uh taking that big trip. What is an ambition you have? What has gotten in the way of you making that trip? Let me kind of piggyback on that question. What imagery have you been creating in your mind as to what it would be what the outcome would be on that? Likely it's not going to be a positive outcome that you're you're fantasizing about, and that's why you haven't taken the action. Question three is how much of that are you actually certain about and making up in your own mind? And if you're honest with yourself, most of it, right? Let's let's be honest, most of it is in your head. And to prove it, think about all those times. I'm sure you could find at least one, if not a million, that you you you were fantasizing about something going wrong or somebody thinking something, and then you turn out that you were wrong. You were building this story up in your head, only to realize you went through all this stress, all this anxiety for absolutely nothing. All right. So let's now switch the frame. Let's say, okay, well, what is the desire we have? And let's imagine what is the experience you want to have? Like, what would it feel like to go on that experience? And what would you tell yourself present day, after having that experience, who's experienced the worry, the doubt that you are experiencing right now? What would you tell them? I'm willing to bet that you would tell them, just go freaking do it. It's gonna be a blast, you're gonna come back a new person, whatever it is. I know that your your future self is gonna give you some positive words to to go ho go to encourage him and to go get it. So that is uh that's my lesson for you guys today. And I the reason I brought this one up is because I'm actually booking a trip, I'm looking at a trip to Israel and Jordan. And I've been apprehensive. I'm like, oh my God, is it really a good time? I don't know, should I go? I've been thinking about this for the last like week, but been seesawing on it just because I'm like, well, you know, the stability over there, and but when is there a good time? And that was the the kind of the golden nugget my friend in the Costco line gave me. So uh so stay tuned. I have a couple, there's two possible trips I'm looking at, so I'm gonna book one of them. I'm not really sure which one. Uh, but stay tuned, I will bring you more on that. But take the action, do this, write down the steps I told you about. What is the decision you are waiting on that you want to make, but you've been fearful. How much of that fear is in your head? And how you know that is what imagery are you putting your head, and how much are you absolutely certain when you realize that most of it is just made up, and you're not really certain about any of the outcomes because there's no way for you to be right? You I'm a shitty fortune teller, and I know if I'm a fortune teller, you have to be at least you know, at least slightly maybe even better than me. But uh realizing that and then look to the future, look to what you're gonna experience, and then allow your future self to give you the feedback, the guidance, the encouragement to take the next action. So I hope you enjoyed this episode here. If you did, please hit that subscribe button and remember you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately, and most of all, live now. God bless you guys, and I will see you in the next episode.