About 20 years ago, I was sitting at the Hong Kong bar in Munich with my friend. We used to do it once a week after work. I loved these evenings. We were laughing, dreaming, discussing the state of the world.
One evening, I have told him about my father who was a carpenter, and about my ideas of table designs. He was listening like a friend does. And he asked me:
When can I see the designs?
I responded: Well, I haven't done them yet. I m too busy right now. I will do them when I retire.
Why?!?, he asked surprised. Why not now? What are you waiting for? Who knows if you are still alive in 20 years or so...
I did them in the same year. Another friend helped me to render them on computer. I could show them to my friends and I might build them soon, too.
It felt great. Having done something is very rewarding. I am glad, I haven't waited for my retirement time to do that like some other tings, too.
I know many people who postpone many things to the future: learning a language, travelling, spending time with parents or friends, writing a book, creating a sculpture, going on a pilgrimage, etc. A private bucket list that gets longer and longer.
Sometimes our parents or partners suggest to postpone certain decisions. Sometimes our fears do it or our comfort zones keep us from moving on:
Why don't you first finish the University? You can travel later.
Maybe you shall earn some money and then travel to Australia.
The job pays well. I can stand the stress for a few years.
I am not happy but for now I can still manage. It will get better one day.
I am still young. I do that for a couple of years and then I will be ready to move.
And then I recall my poem called HOW TO GET RID OF A DREAM. I was 39 when i wrote it and I assumed a life expectancy of seventy. It goes like:
31 first-time-this-year-swimming in the lake
31 autumns with leaves inventing and riding winds
31 Christmas mornings watching snow flakes dancing just for me
...
31 wondering about the letters asking for donations and how they know me
31 planning summer vacations
...
30
...
29
...
My key takeaways:
1.    Postponing your life into the future comes at the expense of the present. NOW and HERE has to pay for it.
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2.    Postponing your life into the future is like sending a letter to an address that doesn't exist.
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3.    Postponing your life into the future is hiding the true you.
How to lead now…
Linear thinking and dealing with time is still very common. Maybe it makes it easier to do so, at least for us in Europe. What is interesting, when we stick to the image of a sand clock, is the fact that it doesn't work in a linear mode. We turn the clock upside down every time the upper part, the future gets empty. so it is a circular mode, I'd say. And the sand from the past becomes the sand of the future. The history becomes the building material for the future. Each of these grain of sand has a déjà vu moment: "Wait, I was here before! I remember passing this HERE and NOW before..."Â
As Shirley Bassey sings…