When I was selling life insurance , many times prospects would say they were not going to buy life insurance “until the time was right.” Now, they knew and I knew that was just an excuse for not buying, but I have since heard that many times when talking to people about self-development. “I’ll start that when the time is right.” Again and again I heard that statement.

The fact of the matter is that the time is never “right”. Waiting until the time is “right” is just another form of procrastination. You cannot wait for the “right” time; you have to make the time “right” right now. The right time is now.

You see, the only time we have is right now, the present. The past is a memory, stored (imperfectly) in our minds. The future is a dream, an anticipated moment, again stored in our minds. The only time we have is the present. Dr. Robert Anthony says that the present is our moment of power because it is the only moment in which we can act. You cannot change the past, and you cannot act in the future. You can only act in the now, in this moment.

Making the Time Right

To make this the “right” time, you need to start acting. Not everything will be ready. Maybe you need some more money. Maybe you need to get some things out of your life. Maybe you need to get some things into your life. It does not matter. Start acting. By acting, you get the Universe into motion, and something in motion can be steered. A non-moving object cannot be steered.

So pick something, anything, that you can do right now. Linda Dyer says that you need to find something you can do before the sun sets. She starts by creating a “to-do” list and evaluating her activity in regards to her goals with a T-junction evaluation technique. I start by visualization of the desired result. Regardless, find something you can do right now, some small thing that will start your journey towards your desired results. As the Chinese proverb states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Take that step.

What you will find is that things will begin to fall into place. Whatever you needed to get rid of will begin to disappear. Whatever you needed to get will begin to appear. Whatever changes you needed to make will begin to happen. It all begins with a single step.

So pick something you can do. Maybe your goal is to become physically fit. Something you can do right now is throwing away the junk food and getting some healthy snacks. Something you can do right now is going to the gym today, not tomorrow. Something you can do right now is visualizing yourself as being fit and feeling the emotions you will have when you are that fit. Something you can do right now is telling a friend that you are going to get fit, setting him up as an accountability partner.

“You don’t have to get it right; you just have to get it going.” The law of inertia says that something at rest will stay at rest, while something in motion will stay in motion, unless some outside force acts on it. Be that outside force.

Author's Bio: 

John Steely has been teaching mathematics, study skills, and habits of success for over 25 years. You can access a number of free resources he has found and made at Steely Services