Like most people out there, I am often trying to figure out how to be a healthier and better person who also happens to have more money.
And in order to reach different goals in life, I like making plans for myself and then naming the plans. Everyone does this, right?
A few years ago, for example, I tried the somewhat successful Nick Improvement System (NIS), and just last year I was part of the spectacularly unsuccessful Go Forward plan, which unfortunately was left behind far too often. My friend Doug had much more luck with his Look Up plan.
This year, though, I have found a new plan that is changing my life! I am excited to be able to share with you today the new Why Wait? Plan, which my marketing gurus are calling YW8?
I am fairly certain it will help me get into better shape while also making me fabulously wealthy and perhaps even wealthily fabulous.
Some say this revolutionary plan reminds them of the well-known Think System made popular by Music Professor Harold Hill in Iowa in the early 1900s, but I am not too sure about that. While there are certain similarities, I think the overall comparison is full of Shipoopi.
Now I know what you’re asking. How does it work? What will I have to eat? How much does it cost? Who is Harold Hill and why is Nick making such dated references?
Well, I will be happy to share the whole plan with you soon in one of my upcoming speaking engagements, DVDs or musicals, but I figure why wait? I will share part of the plan with you right now. Here is the main philosophy behind this innovative plan.
Quit waiting for things to happen!
Get up and do something!
Life is short! Get moving!
I agree, it’s profound and avant-garde. Do you need a moment to process it all?
Basically, I spend way too much time thinking about things I want to do, no matter how large or small the task.
I should trim the hedges when I have time. I should pick that thing up on the floor when I am cleaning next time. I should read a book soon. I should put something away. I should volunteer to help with something. I really want to write a book one of these days. I should eat better and lose this weight. I should write a decent column.
Those are all normal things to think or say, but really what am I waiting for? Why do I think these things so often instead of just acting on them?
Why wouldn’t I just pick up something off of the floor now? Why not just go trim the hedges instead of waiting for just the right time? Why am I waiting for the right time to read or write a book? Why don’t I do something to lose this extra weight?
And while I may not have the ability to write a decent column anytime soon, there’s nothing to keep me from trying.
I am constantly putting things off and there is no reason for it. I am in good health, I have a good life and there are tons of things that I want to do someday that I usually never get around to doing. And frankly, if I keep waiting, I’m going run out of time.
Or, as Professor Hill so eloquently put it, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make today worth remembering.”
He was so smooth.
So seriously, what have I been waiting for with any of this? Because it’s too much work? Because I might fail? Because it might be hard? That’s all really stupid.
The key is to quit waiting and to Just Do — oh wait a second, I almost used someone else’s motto. The key is YW8?
Now I understand that many people have real barriers keeping them from the goals they want to reach and a simple motto won’t help them, but my main barriers are just laziness and fear.
And I also realize I can’t just say, “I want to be surgeon” or something like that, and then suddenly become a surgeon. That would require more of the Think System than the YW8? Plan. But, if I wanted to become a surgeon (I don’t! Yuck!) I would start studying and figure out how to become a surgeon.
So from now on, I am following the YW8? Plan.
I am going to get into better shape. I am going to ride my bike more. I am going to read and write a book. I am going to reach out to friends and do all of that other junk I mentioned in order to make some improvements and reach some goals.
My goals aren’t crazy, either. I mainly just want to be healthy, be a better husband/parent, spend more time with my family, be a better friend, figure out how to control the ball in soccer and finally become rich enough to afford a band with 76 trombones.
It’s not too much to ask and it’s really not too much to do. I just need to do it now because there’s no reason to wait.
nickclaussen.com 