What Do You Want To Do?

From Feb. 8, 2008

Are you thinking you would like to do something? Perhaps you would like to do something that you value greatly, but for which you just haven’t had the time or resources? What would it take to get your started on that something? And one more question: what are you waiting for?

C.S. Lewis said "If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work.”* I don’t know about all of you, but for me that is always the case. I have so many distractions in my daily life, that if I allowed myself to be carried off course, nothing would ever get done.

I have learned a number of lessons in life that all pertain to “getting it done.” Sometimes it seems that my whole life is geared to learning that one lesson because I have to make so many things happen, every single day. But what about that “something else” I might want to do—that thing that I just never seem to have the time or resources to do?

Well, to answer myself with another question: how badly do I want it? Whether my answer is “really bad” or “I’d really like to”, the answer is simple. Find a way to do it. Stop waiting for that golden opportunity, because “it ain’t gonna happen.” If you are really serious about it, stop whining and start moving—even if it is a tiny step it will be a step in the right direction.

Lewis went on to say: “The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come." Over the years, I have let a lot of things slip by because I was waiting for that golden moment—things that I either should have done or could have done long ago. I have used even more excuses than anybody, but it doesn’t matter anymore—the past has passed, and I am still alive. Whether I live one more day or 45 more years, I can still work for that “something.”

Don’t wait for the New Year to resolve to do something. Start something today.

* "Learning in War-Time", The Weight of Glory). Italics added.