Everyone hates a waiting room. Never in the history of your life have you ever said, “I got to sit in a waiting room for an hour today, it was awesome!”
Whether it’s the doctor’s office, the DMV, or your mechanic’s shop, they all have one thing in common. You sit down, look around, scroll through your phone a little, glance at the TV that’s somehow always showing a daytime talk show, and wait for someone to call your name. Every few minutes, a door opens, someone else’s name gets called, and you wonder how many people are still ahead of you.
You don’t have much of a choice. You’re waiting on someone else.
The funny thing is that many people approach their careers the exact same way.
They’re waiting for the promotion. Waiting for the economy to improve. Waiting for the recruiter to call back. Waiting until life gets less busy. Waiting until they feel more confident. Waiting until they know just a little bit more before applying for the job, starting the business, reaching out to someone they admire, or posting that first piece of content online.
The list never really ends.
Life will always hand you another reason to wait. Every milestone creates another excuse to postpone the next one. Every obstacle becomes evidence that now just isn’t the right time. Waiting starts to feel logical. It starts to feel responsible. It even starts to feel productive, even though nothing is actually moving forward.
If the economy improves, then you’ll wait until after the holidays. Once the holidays are over, you’ll wait until your kids are older. After your kids are older, you’ll wait until work slows down. Once work slows down, you’ll convince yourself you should probably wait until next quarter. By the time next quarter arrives, something else has taken its place.
Waiting has a way of disguising itself as being responsible.
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The problem is that your career doesn’t operate like a doctor’s office. There isn’t a receptionist behind the desk keeping track of whose turn is next. Nobody is checking how long you’ve been sitting there. Nobody is eventually going to walk into the lobby and announce that it’s finally your time to build your network, earn more money, improve your skills, or create the career you’ve been talking about for years.
At some point, though, you have to get up from the chair and walk out of the waiting room.
Nobody is going to call your name when it’s time to update your resume. Nobody is handing out invitations to start writing, learn a new skill, ask for a raise, or finally apply for the role you’ve been thinking about for months. Those moments usually begin with a decision, not an invitation.
“Progress almost always belongs to the person willing to move before they feel completely ready.”
Looking back over my own career, almost every meaningful opportunity started after I stopped waiting for someone else to create it. I reached out first. I applied first. I asked first. I took the meeting. I wrote the article. I made the phone call. None of those opportunities showed up after sitting patiently in the lobby, hoping someone would eventually point me in the right direction.
Most careers aren’t held back by a lack of talent. They’re held back by people who have become too comfortable sitting in the waiting room.
Eventually, you have to stand up, open the door, and go make something happen. The waiting room will still be there if you decide to come back. The people building remarkable careers rarely do.