Hello!
Seiiti Arata.
I received a message from someone, saying, "I'm an old procrastinator.
How can I put my plans into reality before I die?"
Well... the older you are, the more likely you've put dreams aside.
This is natural, of course.
The longer you've lived, it's expected that you've had to make choices that put many dreams
on hold.
But the problem is that there are people who, despite being mature, still continue to procrastinate.
If you are already at a more advanced stage of life, you may feel that you have already
accomplished much of what you had to do in terms of career, family, and personal projects.
Even then, you need to be careful not to get into a dangerous stagnation zone.
This stagnation zone is where you keep thinking about new plans and nurturing new dreams,
but never take action.
Procrastination is already a common problem for all ages.
And those who have gone through many life experiences can suffer even more from procrastination.
It doesn't matter how much you've done in life.
Surely, you still have some unfulfilled dream, some experience still on your bucket list,
or some plan that you couldn't execute.
If this is your case and you keep procrastinating, uncertain whether to risk your comfort or
not, there is a small technique for you to take action: the rule of ALMOST.
The ALMOST rule says that you should take action immediately, if you are almost sure
of what you want to do.
Those who find themselves in the stagnation zone later in life find it difficult to act.
This procrastination is not about age.
It's about having more to lose.
Or because you've been beaten down so much by life, you don't know if you still have
the energy to try to fulfill a new dream or live a new experience.
In this situation, it is very difficult to be certain whether you should proceed or let
go of your plans.
The pros and cons are often the same, so it is not possible to be sure about the decision
at hand.
Instead of hoping to have that kind of certainty, try a different approach.
Try using the almost rule.
The almost rule tells you to act when you are ALMOST sure of what you want to do.
You don't expect to be absolutely sure, and you don't even expect to be very sure.
You just need to be ALMOST sure that it's the right thing to do, that the pros are a
little bigger than the cons, and you can take action.
Using this rule, you break out of inertia and quickly get real-life feedback to see
if the dreams in your head really match what you want.
The almost rule helps you out of paralysis.
By taking action, you get feedback and can improve.
Think of this logically: if you act now, maybe you will get what you want.
You can then celebrate.
On the other hand, if you don't get the result that you wanted, you still learn something.
Basically, when you don't act, you fail to gather information about the outcome of your
actions.
As a result, you cannot improve.
However, when you act, even in an improvised way, you receive feedback.
And this feedback is essential for your improvement.
If you wait to be absolutely sure of what you want to do, you may end up missing the
opportunity.
Time is ticking, and you may no longer have the energy, health, or opportunity to fulfill
your dream.
But if you don't wait too long and act, even if you're only almost sure, two things can
happen: either it works... or it goes wrong.
At least, you learn something.
Both of these situations are beneficial.
In the first situation, everything works out.
You can make your dream come true, live your new experience, and fulfill your plan.
In this case, the almost rule worked for you.
In the second situation, you begin to experience, in practice, that the dreams and plans in
your head should stay in your head as ideas only.
In practice, they are not what you really want.
In this case, the almost rule also worked for you to get quick feedback, realizing that
it was the wrong way to go.
For example, think of a man in his fifties, who has already built a family, purchased
his own house, and achieved a stable career.
This man likes to cook and has a dream of opening an Italian restaurant.
He's not sure whether or not he should invest time, money, and energy into this dream.
But using the almost rule, he puts the plan into action, without being absolutely sure.
Since the financial cost of opening a restaurant from scratch is so high, he talks to a friend
who owns a restaurant and offers to be a manager, working for free to get experience.
In practice, he realizes that the day-to-day of a restaurant is very different from what
he once dreamed.
He spends little time taking care of pasta, lasagna, and gnocchi and a lot of time dealing
with bureaucratic tasks, people management, and customer complaints.
Soon, he realizes that his dream was better in his head.
Therefore, he thanks his friend for the opportunity and decides that he will never think about
opening a restaurant again.
The opposite can also happen.
Perhaps, he has a great experience being a restaurant manager.
He discovers that he is very good at managing staff, and on top of that, he can work in
the kitchen.
This is the confirmation that he needs to open a restaurant of his own.
He can delegate tasks to the right people and focus on only taking care of the cooking,
which is what interested him to begin with.
In either scenario, the almost rule worked.
That's because this rule takes you out of a dangerous state of mind, which is the state
of fear-fueled inaction.
The fear of making mistakes and losing what you've already achieved is the biggest fuel
of procrastination.
Many times, we don't act because we are afraid of making mistakes.
The younger folks who have nothing to lose can take a risk to try to gain something.
However, the older folks who have already worked hard to build wealth and reputation
are more afraid of taking risks and losing.
The problem is that this fear-fueled lack of action puts you in a state of constant
anguish and anxiety, always thinking about what things could be like if you had taken
action.
This fear makes you wait to be absolutely sure about the time to act.
The problem is that absolute certainty never arrives.
With the almost rule, you leave that inaction behind and experience whatever outcome you
have to experience.
Of course, you won't recklessly risk everything that you've already built in life.
But you can set aside a piece of your time, energy, and assets to try to make a dream
in your head come true in reality.
This must be done with a lot of planning.
Your dream must be integrated into a larger life plan that covers your personal values
​​and other areas of your life.
Of course, even with this type of planning, there is a possibility that your project will
not work out.
In that case, you will have taken a calculated risk.
You may even lose time, energy, and money, but you will have gained experience.
Above all, you will have gotten rid of that anguish of always imagining what could have
happened if you had only acted.
Just as there is a possibility that your project will fail, there is also a possibility that
you will succeed.
The benefit of your success is proportional or even greater than the damage if you fail.
It is a mistake of logic to only consider the risk of failure.
You also need to consider what you will gain if your project succeeds.
Furthermore, remaining in the stagnation zone and doing nothing is also a choice that has
its risks.
By doing nothing, it is almost certain that you will not receive the benefits that you
would have obtained if you had tried successfully.
Regardless of your age or life condition, try using the almost rule.
Even if you're not sure, take action.
Whatever the outcome, you will win.
The almost rule encourages you to take action, even if you're not quite sure whether you
should attempt to fulfill a dream, live an experience, or try a new project.
It is perfect for those who are in more advanced stages of life, procrastinating because they
are afraid to take risks.
But for this rule to be well executed, you must include the realization of this project
through well-done planning.
A plan that covers all areas of your life.
For those of you who are interested in planning this kind of life, I invite you to attend
a special class of the Planning Your Life course that can be accessed at the address
https://arata.se/planningyourlife right now.