Small Decisions Made Today Will Change Your Life
Make the future you want by moving in the present.
The Countdown to Adulthood
When you’re a kid, life feels like one long countdown.
You look forward to:
growing up
escaping discipline
getting behind the wheel of a car
making your own decisions
tasting the freedom adulthood promises.
Here’s a potential problem. “Looking forward” can lead to “present paralysis.” It tricks us into thinking life starts later.
The future is shaped moment by moment, right here. It isn’t a finish line we eventually stumble into. And every time we postpone something meaningful, we quietly train ourselves to believe that now isn’t worthy, ready, or important enough.
That slow drift of hesitation is exactly how people lose years without ever noticing.
That illusion can be defined as “the myth of later.”
The Myth of “Later”
We live in a culture obsessed with planning, forecasting, and waiting for the “right time.”
We tell ourselves,
I’ll start when things settle down…
when I have more money…
when the timing feels perfect.
But wisdom rarely waits. It doesn’t shout from the mountaintops. It whispers in the quiet corners of our lives:
What about now?
“Later” is a seductive myth. It promises ease, but often delivers regret.
It convinces us that tomorrow will be smoother, that opportunities will stay put, that we’ll magically have more energy, clarity, or courage.
This present moment is the only time we’re guaranteed. And it’s packed with potential.
The myth of “later” doesn’t just live in our thoughts. It shapes our choices.
It whispers, “You have time,” and suddenly we’re postponing decisions, deferring conversations, and shelving dreams.
At work, we think, “I’ll get to that tomorrow.”
At home, “I’ll clean the dishes in the morning.”
With relationships, “I’ll call them later.”
But every decision we delay is a seed we never plant. Every risk we avoid is a story we never live.
The Danger of Delay
We delay decisions. We postpone conversations. We defer dreams. Why? Because we think we’ll be braver, wiser, or more ready tomorrow.
But tomorrow is a moving target. And wisdom doesn’t wait for readiness, it responds to reality.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. — Ancient Proverb
Delay feels harmless in the moment, but it quietly compounds (just like interest).
Except this kind doesn’t grow, your life. It shrinks it.
And the dangers are real.
1. Delay creates emotional distance.
We tell ourselves we’ll text a friend tomorrow, check in next week, or repair a strained relationship “when things calm down.”
But with every postponed moment, the gap widens. Silence grows heavier. Reconnection grows harder. And sometimes the opportunity slips away entirely.
A classmate’s father passed away, and I didn’t reach out right away. With each day I waited, my stress level climbed.
When I finally called a day or two after the funeral, I was more anxious about making the call than the call itself. Isn’t that crazy? He’s a good friend, even if we don’t see each other often.
He was grateful to hear from me, and we had a warm, meaningful conversation. Looking back, I wasted time and emotional energy thinking about the call instead of just making it.
Even a quick voicemail would have meant more than my silent hesitation.
2. Delay drains our energy.
Unmade decisions create mental drag. We carry tasks in our heads instead of putting them in motion. We replay conversations we should have, instead of having them.
The longer we wait, the heavier it feels.
And we know this feeling. I lived it when I waited too long to call my friend after his father passed. Every day I didn’t call, the weight didn’t shrink: it grew. The stress wasn’t coming from the call itself… it was coming from the delay.
That’s what delay does. It turns simple tasks into emotional burdens, and small responsibilities into lingering background noise. It drains our energy long before we ever take action. Most of the time, the task isn’t hard.
Tom Petty was close when he sang, “The waiting is the hardest part.” But anyone who’s postponed a call, a task, or a tough conversation knows the real lyric should’ve been: “The delaying is the hardest part.”
3. Delay turns small problems into big ones.
A difficult conversation at work becomes a performance issue months later. A minor health concern becomes a major diagnosis because we “didn’t have time” to schedule the appointment.
A small cluttered pile becomes chaos because we kept waiting for the perfect Saturday. I’ll take time to wash clothes (hoping to score some points with my wife).
I’ll leave them in the dryer for three days, and by the time I pull them out, they are as wrinkled as my fingertips after two hours in the pool. Leaving no points scored with the wife. In fact, I may have triggered a point deduction review!
What We Can Do in the Present
If delay is dangerous, then the present is powerful. You don’t need a life overhaul to break the cycle of “later.” You need small, honest steps taken now.
Here are three simple ways to reclaim the present:
1. Do the next right thing.
Not the perfect thing. Not the entire plan. Just the next right thing.
We get stuck because we imagine life requires grand gestures with breakthrough strategies, twenty‑step systems, and airtight clarity. But almost nothing in the real world actually works that way.
Life moves in inches, not miles. And the present moment only asks for one thing at a time. Doing the next right thing is how we shrink life back down to human size.
That text you’ve been avoiding? Send it. That appointment you keep pushing off?
Schedule it. That five‑minute conversation that’s been sitting on your conscience for weeks? Have it.
Once you move even a little, something inside you wakes up. Momentum builds. Possibility expands. What felt like dread starts to shift into, “Okay… I’ve got this!”
You don’t need certainty, or even clarity, to make this move. You just need enough courage to take one honest step in the direction. When you take the next step (even an imperfect one), the path ahead becomes a little clearer.
Small decisions made today beat big intentions saved for someday.
I’ve seen this in my own life. I’ve fixed things I never thought I could fix: replacing the drive belt on my riding mower, swapping out an entire headlight assembly in one of our cars.
These may sound simple to anyone who’s mechanically inclined, but I’m mechanically declined, and yet I did them. Not because I had a plan. But because I made one small choice to start.
Those tiny decisions were the moments when real change happened.
So start now. Start small. And let the next right thing be enough.
2. Shorten your decision window.
Most delays happen because we give ourselves too much room to hesitate. I’m the “King of Hesitation!” When the window is wide, doubt has space to grow. But when the window shrinks, decisions get simpler.
We don’t struggle because things are complicated. We struggle because we start overthinking. “My name is Michael Hollifield, and I struggle with overthinking.”
Overthinking gives small choices unnecessary weight. Pausing too long turns simple tasks into emotional mountains. The longer we wait, the heavier everything feels.
So make your window smaller on purpose.
Try this:
If something takes less than two minutes, do it now.
Send the confirmation.
Wash the dish.
Reply to the message.
Tiny wins stack quickly when you stop postponing what takes almost no effort.
If it takes less than ten minutes, do it today.
Make the call.
Fill out the form.
Tidy the room that’s been silently judging you.
A small burst of focus with action can wipe out an entire category of low‑level stress.
If it takes honest courage, do it sooner than you want.
Difficult decisions grow sharper, louder, and more expensive the longer they sit. Courage shows up when you choose to act.
Shortening your decision window simply reduces the distance between knowing and doing. It keeps fear, fatigue, and perfectionism from stretching that distance into days, weeks, or months.
I once read about a couple who handled major life decisions (things like where to live, or whether to make a vocational change) by giving themselves just 48 hours.
Not reckless, not rushed, but decisive. They did their research, talked it through, and made the call.
And it made me think: if they can make life‑shaping choices in two days, surely I can shorten my decision window on the far smaller choices I face every day.
3. Build a “Now List,” not a “Someday List.”
A “Someday List” is where dreams go to retire.
A “Now List” is where dreams go to live.
“Someday” is comfortable, but it’s also dishonest. It lets us pretend we’re moving toward something without taking a single step. A Someday List may create the illusion of intention, but it quietly gives us permission to delay what matters.
A “Now List” does the opposite. It pulls your attention into the present and forces you to engage with what you say you value.
Write down three things that truly matter to you.
Not: what should matter; what used to matter; what matters to the people around you.
Write down the things that rise to the surface when you’re honest.
Then ask one question for each item:
What’s one immediate step I can take toward each of these?
Not the final step. Not the biggest step.
The first step. The simplest, clearest, least avoidable next action that moves this from intention into reality.
Do that step today.
A “Now List” turns values into verbs, hope into movement, and desire into direction. Most importantly, it turns “someday” into “now.”
A simple truth to remember
The present is the only place where change actually happens.
It’s where:
- courage grows
- relationships heal
- creativity returns
- lives shift.
You don’t need more time.
You need more intention.
I used to wait for the “right moment” and never noticed that the right moment was already here. The present isn’t just a passageway. It’s also an invitation. A doorway. A sacred intersection between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming.
And the only way through that doorway… is to move.
So here’s the call: Take something out of someday, and place it firmly in now.
Pick one decision, one relationship, or one small action that matters and do something about it before the day ends. Not to finish it. Just to begin.
Because beginnings are what shape a life.
Reflection Questions
What decision have you been postponing that needs to be made now?
Who needs your attention, encouragement, or forgiveness today?
What would change if you lived like now was sacred?