When asked what his biggest regret was at Adobe MAX 2021, Ken Lashley responded by saying, “don’t wait too long to listen to your inner voice.” This is something that has resonated with me for some time in different degrees. Why would you spend one more day away from something that speaks to you?

Hearing this quote reassured me to keep going. His quote isn’t even about the shortness of time, if you wait one day, that’s one day you aren’t doing something that calls to you, one less day to spend with the joy that something can bring.

There is A LOT I could say about this, and no balance will be right for each individual person. But really, at its simplest form, when I wonder about what I am doing and if it’s the right thing, I ask, “are you enjoying it?” and “if I were gone today would this be what I want done?” If I were gone today, what would I regret NOT doing? Do that thing.

I’ve had many checks on this in my life, a friend who was taken too soon, family members full of life and still brought down, there’s never enough time. Even light realizations of “you’ll never read all of the books on your list”, or “knit all the yarn in your stash” at a certain level hit pretty hard. It’s a lot.

It’s also really easy, in our fast paced life to think about taking a quick break and doing things tomorrow. While I do advocate for that now and again, we all need breaks, some take too many and put things off for forever. I keep putting off projects that I know I will enjoy because of minor things, these are days I am not spending with a project I know will fill me up. Girl… believe in yourself. Do the thing!

A little bit of a bleak one, but it’s the kick in the pants I use whenever I have any doubt or wonder if I am putting my energy into the right things. My studio is where I am at my happiest, why would I put that off any longer than necessary? What are you putting off?