The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.
Henri Frederic Amiel
We all need a roadmap, a game plan to bring our plans to fruition. Once we have a clear vision about where we see ourselves in the future, we can start working in that direction. However, often times, a lack of direction stalls our progress.
In most cases, we go into a shell as soon as things start going against us. We become hesitant about taking risks and begin waiting for things to go our way before resuming our journey. We keep waiting for a time when the circumstances will be perfect for us to give it another go. It goes without saying that this is a flawed approach to success in general and life in particular.
Let’s face it. Life isn’t a bed of roses; it is anything but perfect. It will keep throwing fresh challenges at you, testing your endurance and resolve every now and then. Ultimately, it all comes down to what you make of these setbacks. You can either choose to make them a launchpad for you to turn adversity into advantage, or you can crumble under pressure and start putting things off in anticipation of the sunny day that hardly ever arrives. In fact, putting your plans on hold until the tide turns in your favor is no better than giving up on them altogether.
As clichéd as it might sound, there are times in life when you just need to take the metaphorical leap. There are and will always be days when you can hardly see the path ahead, but will have to move on nonetheless based on your previous experience. Sure, it may or may not pay off, but at least it gives you a real shot of making things work. Staying put, on the other hand, isn’t really likely to get you anywhere. Remember, perfection requires experience, and no experience is possible without taking your chances and making mistakes.
Henri Frédéric Amiel was a Swiss philosopher and critic. Known for his insightful take on life, Amiel once wrote: “The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.”