“I’VE GOT NOTHING BUT TIME.”
It’s a common phrase with multiple use cases, but today, we’re focused on one key trait of this age old saying. This trait is a characteristic of the youth and unsurprisingly in a generation pulled in a million different directions by the media, our parents, our bosses, even our friends and ourselves, we’re losing this trait at a younger age than any generation in the past. The world is moving faster, it doesn’t mean you have to. A lot of younger adults are feeling this pressure to run off and figure out what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives right after they graduate college. “I’ve got nothing but time.” actually starts to feel more like you’re already running out of it.
I’m here to tell you it’s okay that you don’t know.
It’s okay that you’re still trying to figure out what you like.
It’s okay that you don’t have a professional job lined up.
It’s okay that you want to go explore the world!
It’s OKAY that you have student debt and no job to pay it off right away with!
I’m not here telling you to fault on your loans and responsibilities, I’m here telling you that it’s okay to think like a kid still. Be brave, explore new places, new ideas, start a business, start a band, try a new food, try a few drinks, (if you’re legally allowed to partake), take risk! Let those experiences and inevitable missteps shape you into what you want to become, and somewhere along the way you’ll find your path. It’s not easy, the real world isn’t, but it’s a heck of a lot easier now than it would be at 40 or 50 or 80. You don’t want to be that 90 year old with regret in his eyes. Regret because he was too afraid to jump when he was younger and able to bounce back and instead took the easy route because it was comfortable, because it was what he was told to do by everyone else who didn’t take the leap.
Glad we talked that out.
Let’s move into how to get back there. Whether you’re in your 20’s, 30’s, or even 40’s. You’ve got time to work on your self. Self improvement is one of the many keys to a happy life. It leads to self discovery and that helps define what you should do with your life and possibly your work. It seems easy but we all know the real world isn’t easy. The real world can really suck sometimes. You’re done with college, you’ve got real financial responsibilities that you have to maintain, which means you have to have income. Use those moments spent working to plan your next move. How will you shape yourself next? Where is your next adventure going to take you? Don’t think about the end goal yet, Retirement is a looooooonnnnngggggg ways off and at this point it’s looking like there won’t be much in that account to float you anyways. Create smaller progress goals. Goals aimed at helping you to achieve greater understanding of where you stand and your own determined place in the world.
“Right now is your best opportunity at succeeding.”
Let that sink in, remember it, say it out loud. Right NOW is your best opportunity at succeeding. Tomorrow isn’t going to get any easier. A year from now the planets aren’t going to align and make the journey shorter. Right now is when you should start acting on your dreams, acting on the ambitions you have. What’s scarier than taking the leap today? Having to live with the regret tomorrow. Right now you have less baggage than you will a year from now, you get to travel with that “carry on”. There are some that feel like they have lots of baggage, but guess what, in another ten years, that baggage isn’t going to go away. It’s going to be twice as heavy as it was, and jumping, taking that leap is going to be twice as hard, require twice as much work, and now you have 10 less years to do it.
Stop Worrying.
Don’t worry about the money. I’m not saying to go live on your friend’s couch for the next 6 months (they’ll never go for it). I’m saying make enough. Make enough to do what you want and take care of yourself and then DO WHAT YOU WANT! Figure out what makes you happy now so when you’re finally making money it’s because you’re doing what makes you happy. Take risk, roll the dice (metaphorically)! If it flops? Figure out what went wrong and try again. and again and again. You hear speeches talk about “education is the key to success” and their not wrong, most people just misinterpret what their talking about. Education doesn’t have to begin or end with school.The most important lesson you can learn from college (in my opinion) is that you can learn from anything and you should learn from everything.
You only get this chance, this life once. Don’t you think you deserve to be happy and doing what you love for the majority of your life, if not all of it? I’m not even just talking about work, although that is a major part of most people’s life, I’m talking about being with the person you love, I’m talking about seeing the world, I’m talking about collecting memories instead of collecting more stuff. I’m talking about rewarding yourself with an abundant life because of the risks you took and lessons you learned earlier in life. “I’ve got nothing but time”, slowly starts to sound more like an excuse.
Your choice.
Do you want to spend your life listening to the same stories you’ve heard, the same stories you’ve seen over and over again about getting a job, making money to support your future family, and retiring at a reasonable age and then hopefully somewhere along the way you’ve planned accordingly, made it that far, and still have the stamina to go out and do all the things you’ve waiting your whole life to do? OR doesn’t it sound better to write your own story? Write the story you would want to share with your kids one day and hopefully, if you’ve done life right, it won’t bore them, it’ll inspire them.
It all comes back around to being your responsibility or your fault depending on how you look at it. You’re responsible for the life you decide to live. You’re responsible for your achievements, for your accomplishments, for your failures and shortcomings. You’re responsible for the stories YOU tell. You’re responsible for how you spend the time you’re given.
You have all the time in the world, until you don’t.
If you’d like to read more stories, stories that left an impact on our lives. Check out our blog Holy Shift.