The Myth of Waiting for the Right Time

People love to tell you to “Wait until the timing is right.”

Wait until you’re older,

Wait until you have more money,

Wait until you’re more experienced,

Wait until you feel ready,

The problem with all of that? The “right time” has a funny way of never arriving.

I have realized that many of us confuse being responsible with waiting for permission. They are not the same things.

My Timeline Never Made Sense to People

I was homeschooled from first grade on, and my mom is a college planning genius, so she put me in dual enrollment at GTCC my junior year of high school. The plan was to finish my associate’s degree before I graduate because classes are free and it means I would transfer into undergrad as a junior. Not only did I finish my associate’s degree, but I knew I wanted to major in criminal justice, so I went ahead and took classes in that field and ended up receiving a certificate in Criminal Justice from GTCC. And because I had taken so many related classes, I only needed two semesters to finish my undergrad in Criminal Justice. I also completed a second bachelor’s degree in Sociology during those two semesters. By 18 I had two bachelor’s degrees, an associate’s degree, a criminal justice certificate, and was starting my graduate program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. By 20 years old I was somebody’s therapist.

Looking back, it seems truly insane because I was just a baby adult. I’m 22 now, I’m still a baby adult.

I could diagnose mental health conditions and counsel people, but I was also figuring out how taxes work, how to grocery shop, and why adulthood has so many passwords.

On top of all of that I decided to start a business. To a lot of people that sounded “irresponsible.”

“You’re too young”

“You need more experience”

“You should work for someone else first”

“You should wait”

But what exactly was I waiting for? A birthday? A magical confidence fairy? Some invisible line where someone finally says, “Congratulations, you’re officially qualified to take risks now.”

We Tell Ourselves this Story Everywhere

It’s not just in starting a business, people do it with relationships.

“I’ll start dating when…,”

“I’ll have kids when…,”

I’ve noticed something interesting. Very few people ever feel completely ready for marriage and children. Most of them have simply reached a point where they decide, We’re going to figure it out. That doesn’t mean they were reckless about it, they just accepted that some things in life cannot be mastered in advance. Business is no different.

Responsibility Doesn’t Mean Standing Still

Sometimes we use the word responsible as an excuse for fear. Being responsible isn’t avoiding every risk. It’s understanding the risks, preparing as much as you reasonably can, and making thoughtful decisions anyway. You can save money, do research, build a plan, ask questions, find mentors, and still take a leap.

Responsibility and courage aren’t opposites. They work best together.

Entrepreneurship is Gambling Every Day

Owning a business is, in many ways, gambling every single day. You invest money that might not come back, you spend hours building things people may never see, you make decisions with incomplete information, you hire before you know exactly what’s ahead, you market ideas that might flop; Every entrepreneur places bets.

The difference between good entrepreneurs and reckless ones isn’t that one group takes risks and the other doesn’t. It is that good entrepreneurs learn to make calculated bets. They don’t wait until there’s zero uncertainty.

You’ll Never Feel Ready for the Next Version of Yourself

When I became a therapist, I didn’t feel exactly ready. When I started my practice, I didn’t feel exactly ready. Today, as I write this, I don’t feel completely ready. And maybe that’s the entire point.

Growth has always required me to become somebody I wasn’t yet.

The version of me that is capable of running a business didn’t exist when I started. She was built decision by decision, failure by failure, risk by risk.

Stop Waiting for your Arrival

One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that one day we might arrive. That we’ll suddenly wake up fearless, confident, certain, qualified; I don’t think that is how life works.

I think that we become capable by doing things that feel beyond our capabilities

So, if you’re waiting for the perfect moment,

The perfect bank account,

The perfect amount of confidence,

You might be waiting forever.

Take the responsible step. Do your homework. Count the cost.

Then move anyway

Because the right time rarely announces itself. Sometimes the right time is simply the moment you decide to begin.