Think As Inc

THE DANGER OF DELAY

One of the downsides of fear is the delay it causes.  You don’t jump in at the meeting, only to hear your brilliant idea espoused by someone else.  You had a fear of being wrong or speaking out of turn so you hesitated, and then your moment was gone.  You don’t lobby for the promotion, and then see it go to a peer.  You were afraid you weren’t ready, but opportunities may not wait till you are ready.

Career success has a strong timing element.  Hiring is based on a candidate’s skills and interests PLUS how these meet what is available at the time.  Interviews turn on how prepared you are PLUS how receptive the interviewer is at the time.  Promotions are granted when employees are ready PLUS there is a need for a higher level at the time.  It is rare to have your opportunities aligned exactly with your readiness.  In most cases, you will have to reach for the opportunity — sell your achievements, stretch your abilities, take a risk, and thus encounter fear.  If the fear causes you to delay too much, the opportunity may pass.

Understanding the danger of delay, then, may help you mitigate your fear.  You realize that you not only have to overcome hesitation but you have to do it as quickly as possible.  Ask people what their biggest regrets are, and they usually are not things that they did, but things that they didn’t do.  You have the benefit of their hindsight.  Jump into your career.  Don’t delay your potential success.

We cannot put off living until we are ready.  The most salient characteristic of life is the coerciveness:  it is always urgent, “here and now” without any possible postponement.  Life is fired at us point-blank.  –  Jose Ortega Y Gasset