Kicking The Can Down The Road

“If I waited until I had all my ducks in a row, I’d never get across the street.  Sometimes you just have to gather up what you’ve got and make a run for it.”

At G5, we often talk about “kicking the can down the road.”  Picture it: you’re strolling down the street, you kick the can ahead of you, walk up to the can, and kick it again.  You can kick the can as many times as you want, but it isn’t going away.  You’ll always catch up, and you will be faced with the can once again.

So, whatever your can is, why are you kicking it?

We all like to think that we aren’t procrastinators.  We aren’t avoiding the can, we are intentionally waiting to tackle it.  We just aren’t ready yet.  We’ll be more prepared in a week, month, or year.

I want to take this vacation, but I’ll just wait until I have this much money saved up.  Or, I’ll wait until I maybe get that promotion next quarter and feel more financially stable.  I’m kind of busy right now, so I’ll wait until things settle down.

This sounds great on paper, but here’s the catch – you’ll never take the vacation with a philosophy like that.  There will never be a perfect time.  You’ll never be totally ready.  Life happens, and your ducks will never be in a row.

So, stop kicking the can.  Take the trip, have the conversation, sign up for the class, buy the thing.  Risks are scary, but “sometimes you just have to gather up what you’ve got and make a run for it.”