Courage Compresses Time
“I don’t have the time,” he says as he spends endless hours rewriting the company about page for the 10th time. Meanwhile, the competition is knocking on doors & knocking out sales.
“I don’t have the time.”
I say this a few times a week, and it stings each time.
Why?
Because sometimes, it’s true, and I made choices that overloaded me.
Because sometimes, it’s false, and I’m procrastinating out of fear.
Either way, I know it’s my responsibility for how I got there AND why I’m staying there. I both HAVE the time and can MAKE the time if I have the courage to make new choices and take new actions.
This is why courage compresses time, and fear expands it.
## The Cost of Fear and Resistance
When we are afraid, we procrastinate, avoid, and deliberate. We say yes when we should say no. We hedge our bets by having plans A, B, C, and D versus putting as much energy into plan A. We take hours to work up the nerve to ask the prospect of the business. We spend days writing a press release that should have taken 30 minutes.
When courage trumps fear, we slice out the superfluous shit.
All of a sudden, people start noticing.
More leads get called, and more deals get closed.
More content gets generated on a consistent basis.
More emails get discarded while the important ones get addressed.
More time is created, resulting in more success at completing things, which creates more confidence. This becomes a virtuous cycle.
## Courage is Critical When Time and Energy Are Limited
I’m no longer the 20-something college kid that can whip out 80-hour weeks or multiple all-nighters. I have created a life where I need to finish my startup work in sub-50 hours/week to have time for my family and myself.
As such, I don’t have the luxury of wasting time during the work week. I know this. And still, I can find myself spinning when fear or resistance hijacks my thinking.
The trick for me is awareness. When I find myself swirling, I identify it and reset it. I recognize that I’m pissing time away, distracting myself with secondary and tertiary tasks when the 1-2 critical things need my full attention now. And by now, I mean right now. Not when I have days of uninterrupted time (which never happens). But what can I do right now?
Courage compresses time. It may not always end pretty. Sometimes taking a leap without all the necessary research can blow up in your face. However, the few times this happens are far outweighed by the gains of moving everything else along more quickly.
What about you?
What big decision or action have you been sitting on for days, weeks, months, or years? Can you make a decision right now? Can you take action right now?
Or will you find yourself saying (again) “I don’t have the time.”
The choice is yours.
Time is ticking.