(Don't) wait for it

As much as I love Hamilton, I can't say Aaron Burr gives the best advice.

Perfectionism is the biggest killer of motivation. I'm constantly telling myself, "I'll wait until ____". It can be small things that get delayed for weeks, like waiting until I have the house to myself to do a deep clean of my room. Or it can be bigger things, like waiting to be a better writer before I write a book I've thought about for the last 5 years. I'm always waiting for "the perfect moment".

But here's the thing - I don't even know what that moment is. It's as though it will to come to me in this magical light bulb moment of, "Aha! This is the perfect moment!" As wonderful as everything I've ever wanted to do somehow falling into perfect place would be, I have to face the brutal reality that this is less likely to happen than my favourite anime getting a second season.

I've subconsciously set all these random conditions for myself to meet before I'll do something, and this can show itself in a bunch of different ways: "I'll wait until I'm more skilled at this." "I'll wait until I have more money." "I'll wait until I'm healthier." "I'll wait until I've got my future figured out."

Basically, "I'll wait until I know what I'm doing."

Some of these reasons can be justified, but it can be hard to know where the boundary of reasonable and unreasonable is. I have to check in with myself, "Am I waiting because I'm scared of failing? Or am I actually waiting for a good enough reason?"

It can help to get a second opinion on your thoughts. Hearing someone else's take on your logic that's outside of your own head can give you a fresh perspective on whatever it is you're waiting for. They might be the voice of reason you need to finally start what you've been waiting all this time to do!

Another thing I find helpful for me is to physically write out what I need to do to be able to do the thing I want to do. I discovered an app called Dreamfora that helps you with this very thing! They also have "dreams" that have been planned step-by-step by other people for you to follow if you're truly stuck. And it's free!

So yeah, I love Aaron Burr, but his philosophy is terrible. DON'T wait for it, go and get while you're looking at it!