To Do or Not To Do: There’s More Than The Only Option

According to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that’s the question.” But what does it take to know for sure whether or not to do that which you are about to do? What if there is more than ‘the only option’?

In Comes Year 2000

That’s the year I had to make my ‘I do‘ decision. Or so I thought. I was eight months pregnant and in the presence of family, friends and foreigners. But when the time came for me to close that deal, I shed tears.

Why?

Because I knew that the words coming out of my mouth contradicted those welling from the depth of my heart. I didn’t.

I didn’t want to get married, then. No, not because I didn’t love my then-boyfriend, but because the circumstances were wrong in every possible way.

My desire was to get married at 24. I was 20, pregnant, and with a lot of questions hanging above my head. Then someone suggested that it was the ONLY option I had to get my unborn child a father. A good father we got, and the rest is what I have had to deal with since then.

So, what has this story got to do with your business, in quotes or plain?

To Do Or Not To Do Your Idea

It’s about that idea hanging over your head like a frightening cloud right this moment. If you are waiting for 100% assurance that it will work all the way in your favour, you have another thing coming. Here is why.

First, only a trickle of situations in life have 100% assurance. Death takes the first seat on the list. And your idea is no guest.

And second, if you aren’t 100% sure whether or not to do it, let me remind you that despite not knowing whether or not you will wake up tomorrow, you will still go to sleep tonight. So why waste the chance to explore?

So, Let’s Explore…

If looking at the surrounding factors there's a reason you feel your idea is worth trying, then go on and do it. Life is an adventure, if it doesn't work you lose, but with lessons up your sleeves. If it works, you win. Click To Tweet

But before you put that idea to work, how does that reason – not excuse – but reason, weigh against why you shouldn’t go on?

Like me, you will one day look back and wonder what would have happened if you said YES to your gut feelings. Wondering what would have happened if you dared to go against ‘the ONLY option‘ and did what was right by you despite feeling the fear.

The good news is, there is always a way to turn around. When the time comes and you feel convicted to examine the option you had but didn’t take, go for it! By then this article might be 20 years old, but it will save you a mammoth of the unanswered ‘What Ifs‘.

If I were to take the ‘I don’t‘ option I had on my wedding vows today, I may lose my marriage, but I will have in my hands lessons from the many years of living within the cereal-packet family setup. A bucket-load of what works and what doesn’t.

So, in the words of my friend and pancake cook mate, “You will start from experience, not from zero.” Take the route your gut feeling tells you right now. Work with what you believe is true, because it is based on what you know right now. Experience the adventure. Learn. And if you win, you win!

But if after putting all the necessary efforts into the gut-feeling path the idea fails to materialize as you had pictured the result, or better, turn around at the next available spot. Just like that GPS lady advises when you make a wrong turn. And don’t hesitate.

The fact that you feel the conviction to turn around is the first reason you should.

Evaluate your options, because you always have more than ‘the ONLY option‘. And when you have turned, put every ounce of effort into the new direction. Add the experience you earned from treading the previous path. Feel the difficulties and learn. Brave the new adventure and enjoy. Because if you don’t do this, you will have yourself to blame, and maybe for the remaining days of your life.

To do, or not to do is both the question and the answer. Why get to the end of your life and wonder what would have happened if you took the other path?