I Wasn't Expecting to Learn This on a Two-Hour Drive

The kids were shouting. Then they wanted a snack. Then someone wanted a different song. Music was playing in the background, and there was the usual chaos that comes with two kids in the back seat on a road trip.

I was driving. My wife was sitting next to me, preparing for an important talk she had coming up.

I remember looking over at her and thinking, “How is she actually getting anything done right now?”

She was going through her script paragraph by paragraph. She would practice something, stop when she stumbled, make a note, change something on the paper, and practice it again. Then she would move to the next paragraph and do it all over again.

There was nothing ideal about the situation. No quiet room. No uninterrupted hour. No perfectly organized desk. Just a two-hour car ride with two kids making plenty of noise.

And yet, she was making progress. A lot of progress.

By the time we reached our destination, she had worked through a significant part of her talk.

That stayed with me.

How often are we waiting for the “right time”?

I realized that if it were me, I might have looked at the exact same situation and thought, “There is no way I can concentrate with all this going on. I'll do it later when I have some quiet time.”

And that word “later” can be dangerous.

How often do we have an idea we are excited about, but tell ourselves we'll work on it when we have more time? We buy a board game but never open it because we're waiting for the perfect evening. We want to learn a hobby or sport, but life is too busy right now. We plan something fun with our partner or kids, thinking we'll get to it when everyone has some free time.

I know I have done this.

I have a glass painting kit sitting somewhere at home that I bought because I thought it would be a fun activity to do with my family.

We still haven't finished it.

The funny thing is, I don't think most of us are consciously choosing to give up on these things. We are simply waiting for the right circumstances, the right amount of energy, the right amount of focus, the right moment.

But what if the right moment never comes?

There will almost always be something competing for our attention. Maybe the question is less about when we will have the perfect conditions and more about what we can do with the conditions we have right now.

Maybe you have 15 minutes instead of an hour. Maybe the house isn't quiet. Maybe you don't feel completely ready. Maybe you can only do a small part of what you wanted to do.

Do the small part.

My wife's two-hour car ride wasn't the perfect time to prepare for her talk. It was simply the time she had. And she used it.

That experience made me recognize one of my own patterns. Sometimes I convince myself that I am being patient or waiting for the right opportunity, when I may actually be waiting for circumstances to become perfect.

And perfect circumstances rarely show up.

Sometimes what keeps us stuck is the waiting.

I see versions of this in my coaching conversations too. Sometimes what keeps us stuck isn't a lack of ability or desire. It is the waiting, overthinking, doubting, or believing that we need to feel completely ready before we act.

One of the things I enjoy about coaching is helping people notice these patterns and experiment with doing something differently. You don't need to have everything figured out first. Sometimes you take a small step, learn from it, and then decide what the next step should be.

Because sometimes the way forward doesn't become clear by thinking about it.

It becomes clearer once we start moving.

So, what have you been waiting for the “right time” to start?

Maybe the right time isn't coming.

Maybe this is the time you have.