March 9, 2025 | #30 | read on The Happier Studio | Free Version
Welcome to The Happier Newsletter, a weekly newsletter where I provide actionable ideas to help you build a happier, healthier, and more meaningful life.
What’s On Today
- There's No Such Thing as Later
- One Powerful Question to Ask Yourself
- 3 Things I’m Grateful For This Week
There's No Such Thing as Later
We tell ourselves we’ll start tomorrow. Next week. Next month. When we feel more ready. When we have more time.
But the truth is, there is no such thing as later. Later is just another word for never.
How many times have you told yourself you’d start one day but never actually got around to? The book you wanted to write, the language you wanted to learn, the healthy habits you wanted to build, the person you wanted to reconnect with?
We assume we’ll have endless opportunities, but we don’t. Life keeps moving, and every time we delay, we’re not just postponing action—we’re losing something in the process, without even realising it…
Here are the 5 hidden cost of waiting:
1. The Accumulation of Regret
Regret rarely comes from the things we did—it comes from the things we didn’t do. The chances we didn’t take. The conversations we left unsaid. The dreams we let collect dust because we thought we had more time.
When people reflect on their lives, they don’t usually say, “I regret trying that business, even though it failed,” or “I regret putting myself out there, even though it didn’t work out.”
Instead, they say, “I wish I had been braver,” or “I wish I had gone for it when I had the chance.”
Think about a moment in your past when you hesitated—when you wanted to take a leap but let fear, uncertainty, or busyness hold you back. How does that moment feel now?
Now imagine your future self looking back on today. Are you making choices you’ll be proud of? Or are you adding to a list of “what ifs”?
The only way to live without regret is to start now, while you still can.
2. The Erosion of Confidence
We assume confidence comes before action, but in reality, confidence is built through action. It doesn’t arrive fully formed—you create it by proving to yourself, little by little, that you can do hard things.
Think about the first time you tried anything new—riding a bike, learning a skill, speaking in public. You weren’t confident at the start. You were nervous, uncertain, maybe even terrified. But over time, repetition turned that fear into familiarity, and familiarity bred confidence.
- Want to feel confident about public speaking? Start by speaking up in small ways—sharing your thoughts in a meeting, talking to a new person, or even recording yourself just for practice.
- Want to feel capable of running a marathon? Start by walking for 10 minutes today.
- Want to build confidence in your writing? Start by jotting down messy, imperfect thoughts—because done is better than perfect.
The sooner you start, the sooner you break the cycle of self-doubt. Confidence isn’t something you wait for—it’s something you earn.
3. Lost Time That Can’t Be Recovered
Time is the only resource we can never get back. You can always make more money, rebuild relationships, or regain health to some extent—but lost time is gone forever. And yet, we often treat it as if we have an unlimited supply, casually pushing our goals and dreams into a future that isn’t guaranteed.
We tend to think of time in the abstract, but imagine if you treated it like money. Would you waste $86,400 every single day, assuming you’d get more tomorrow? Of course not. Yet, that’s exactly how many seconds we are given each day—minutes that can either be invested or wasted.
The truth is, time is always being spent, whether we realise it or not. The question is: are you spending it intentionally, or letting it slip away?
Think back to something you wanted to start six months ago. Maybe it was learning a new skill, getting in shape, or working on a passion project. If you had taken just one small step each day, imagine how much progress you would have made by now.
Now fast forward six months from today. If you keep waiting, how will you feel looking back?
Every moment you take action is a deposit into your future self. Every moment you delay is time slipping through your fingers. The sooner you start, the more you reclaim control over the minutes, hours, and days that make up your life.
4. Missed Opportunities
Some doors don’t stay open forever. That job application you keep putting off? Someone else might apply today. That person you’ve been meaning to call? They might move on. That idea you’ve been sitting on? Someone else might take the leap while you’re still hesitating.
We like to believe that opportunities will always be there, waiting for us. But life moves forward whether we do or not. A chance taken today can lead to a hundred new possibilities down the road. A chance ignored may never return.
Think about the last time you hesitated on something important. Maybe you saw an opening for your dream job but convinced yourself you weren’t qualified. Maybe you wanted to start a side project but talked yourself out of it. Maybe you let fear stop you from saying yes to an invitation, an experience, or a moment that could have changed something for the better.
Now think about what could have happened if you had just gone for it.
- You could have been further along in your career, doing work that excites you.
- You could have been living in a different city, experiencing a new adventure.
- You could have been healthier, stronger, or more confident in yourself.
- You could have built meaningful relationships with people who inspire you.
- You could have discovered skills and passions you never knew you had.
- You could have created something—an idea, a project, a business—that made a real impact.
But you’ll never know unless you take the leap.
5. The Loss of Compound Growth
Small actions compound over time. Just like money in a savings account, small investments in yourself grow exponentially.
- If you start writing 100 words a day, you’ll have a book in a year.
- If you save $5 a day, you’ll have over $1,800 in a year.
- If you exercise for 15 minutes a day, you’ll have moved your body for 91 hours in a year.
The longer you wait, the more you miss out on the compounding effect of action. Success isn’t about one giant leap—it’s about showing up consistently, day after day.
One Powerful Question to Ask Yourself
If I knew I would die in 10 years, what would I do today?
Would you spend more time with loved ones? Start working on a passion project? Travel more? Let go of resentment? Prioritise your health?
Most of us assume we have unlimited time, but in reality, we don’t. Ten years might seem like a long time, but it’s just 3,650 days. The things you really want to do—the things that will make your life meaningful—shouldn’t be pushed to “someday.”
The best time to start is now.
What would you do differently today if you knew your time was limited?
3 Things I’m Grateful For This Week
- I am grateful for the opportunity to go away for the weekend with family and create special memories together
- I am grateful for the strong cups of coffee in the mornings; I needed them this week
- I am grateful for the warm weather
What are you grateful for this week?
