On the Perfect Timing, from One Planner to the Next
I gave up on setting time limits on my goals a long time ago. Sure, I fully believe in goal chasing and healthy habit forming, but for the big goals in your life — the decisions that keep you up at night, the ones you’ve dreamed about for years and years — those are the timelines that can’t be written by anything other than time herself. But in my experience, limiting my timelines (“by the time I’m 30”, “in 6 months I’ll be…”) weaves mostly comparison, rushed decision making, and disappointment.
Hear me out.
Since I was in high school, falling in love with the culture around coffee shops and the community they foster, I’ve known I would own a coffee shop one day. It was a dream I held loosely over the years, but one I never fully let go, even as I pursued other interests and milestones along the way. I spent years planning it all out, my pretend cafe. Pinterest boards full of designs and floor plans and equipment lists. Business plans from others in my (hopeful) industry. An Instagram handle, a domain name. Menu designs and logos and redesigns and…
A visual representation of the actual timeline of my dream business ^^^
And here’s the kicker:
In the end, the majority of those plans never came to fruition. I opened the dream cafe, but with none of the equipment or timelines or Pinterest-y things I had spent years fixating on. My cafe, in one way or another, designed itself, in its own space(s), in its own time, and none of my planning made it happen any quicker. I simply pushed at doors of opportunity until one opened, and then I kept walking through them, quite literally figuring it out as I stepped.
I don’t say all of this to discourage my fellow planners and go-getters. I don’t say all of this to keep you from researching and honing your craft and preparing for “one day”. Do all of those things — do them with passion and excitement knowing that the timeline and actuation of those ideas will almost certainly be the furthest thing from linear.
Know that your goal is not lesser than because it’s still in your imagination, or because it happens slowly, and in its own time (which it will), or because it looks differently than you expected (which it will). Take your time, plan your plans, make your connections, hold onto your goals, and lightly push on doors as they open up to you. And they will, I promise.
