You’ve probably heard the saying, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”
And that’s never been more true with anything worthwhile in life:
- Saving for retirement
- Improve your health
- Restart a friendship
- And, yes, changing careers
In this episode of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, Kate and I are exploring the question, “If not now, when?”
Turns out, we often have very good answers to that question.
I’ll do it when my kids graduate high school.
I’ll do it when my bank account hits $2,000.
I’ll do it next month, once this current project is out of the way.
Any of these sound familiar?
We all do it. Kate and I are sharing limitations we’ve placed on ourselves—and how we’ve started to get real with our actual priorities.
Here’s the thing: the difference between people who achieve their goals and those who don’t is the people who achieve their goals start.
They may spend 15 minutes a day working toward their goal when they want to spend 2 hours. But the point is, they take action—even if it’s the tiniest action.
Because it’s never too late to start. But it’s always too late to wait.
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[01:50] The concept of if not now, when? Some of the reasons feel really good. That’s a good point because a lot that we can make ourselves, we’re very good at believing, making stories up in our minds and saying here’s why. And it can feel like a really valid reason.
[03:25] They’re always going to be time constraints. I think it’s a human bias to believe that at some point in the future, things are going to be easier. Our time is going to open up miraculously when it just doesn’t. The older we get, the busier our lives get, the more obligations there are on us.
[04:35] It’s a planning bias and it is an optimism bias. We believe that eventually there’s going to be a better time for this. We believe that eventually we’re going to have more time, but that doesn’t ever come.
[07:03] When I have not done things, I think it’s because it’s going to take so much time. If you’re taking a live course, had to kind of buckle down, but yes there may be that element of having to keep up with a schedule.
[08:06] We’re always saying to our students, you can make progress in like 15 minute chunks a day. You can take the pieces that you need to make progress on and fit them in where you can.
[12:07] There are opportunities within your day. You could probably also find some time within your day to listen to a course or consume a course or something. If you have kids but you try to fit it in and you make it work and you figure it out because every kid’s different. You fit it in because it’s a priority.
[13:49] Part of this comes to really getting honest with ourselves about what our priorities are. Sometimes part of that ‘I’ll get to that someday’ is because we recognize that it’s going to take us outside of our comfort zones and it’s going to make us grow.
[16:44] That’s okay that we are doing something for ourselves, especially when it’s something positive, that’s going to help our lives and going to help the lives of others around us. So there’s nothing wrong with it.
[18:05] Being willing to say, Hey, this matters to me. I’m having a little trouble fitting this into my schedule. Can I get some help with that? Cause that’s how relationships are supposed to work. We’re supposed to be able to lean on each other.
[19:20] None of our students have ever said, well, I had absolutely nothing else going on. It’s almost always people who are working a full time job, also parenting and fitting this in nonetheless. So they end up with more time. Sometimes we have to do the short term trade offs for the long term benefit.
[25:10] It’s going to be harder because the more we live and the more that we age, things just get more complicated. It has to be your choice and it has to be your decision.
[25:46] You have to prioritize. Yes. Not just you now, but also making sure that you’re setting future you up for success through the choices that you’re making today.
[28:10] You need to make sure that you are, if not surrounding yourself with people who think a little bit more strategically about their lives and what they really want to go for, then at least be consuming things that help you think more strategic.
[28:50] The hardest thing is to decide to make a change. And the second hardest thing is just to take the first step.
[29:04] There’s never a bad time to sit down and think about your life and think about, okay, where do I want to go? What do I want to do? Who do I want to be? And how do I start making that happen?
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“You never get to the end of your to-do list. It always gets filled in. The idea of, well, I have to wait for the perfect time, or I have to wait for a time when I’m less busy. That’s not something that’s going to happen.” – Nicki
“Just let’s do it. Let’s stop thinking about it because the thinking doesn’t get me any.” – Kate
“We can’t let fears get in the way of taking a new step.” – Nicki
“We can’t help others as much if we don’t help ourselves. But I think it’s very hard to implement and super hard if we do it at all. It’s okay to have big goals and dreams and go after them and want them.” -Kate
“There’s no sense of beating ourselves up for not doing something sooner. But the best time to start is now for anything that you want to do.” – Kate
“There’s the proverb that says like, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time, today. Because you will still see it in the future.” – Nicki
“Life is short. It’s short for sure, but it’s also long enough that it doesn’t make sense to just stay stuck.” – Kate
“You don’t need to know all of the steps. You don’t need to have it all planned out, but what are the first steps? Just get started because that is where the whole new life begins with those first couple of steps.” – Nicki
Mentioned in the Episode
Related Links
- Have Trouble Making Decisions? These Questions Will Help
- When You Need to Get Down to Work: The 5 Second Rule
- Ep. 143: Business Builder or Time Waster?
- Ep. 154: How Freelancers Can Masterfully Juggle Multiple Projects – with Kaitlyn Spinney
- The System Copywriters Need to Efficiently Get Work Done
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
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Last Updated on April 4, 2025
