Waiting doesn’t prepare you for your best day. Doing does.

Introduction

There was a time I had an idea and believed it could be my best work ever.

My audience was starting to grow. Engagement was picking up. Then I came across a topic that felt too good to rush. It felt important, like something that deserved the “right” moment.

So I waited.

Not because the idea wasn’t ready, but because I believed the timing wasn’t right yet.

The painful part is that I waited so long that I eventually couldn’t use it again.

That experience taught me a lesson many people learn too late: waiting often feels responsible, but it quietly delays growth.

When Waiting Feels Like Strategy

At the time, my decision didn’t come from laziness. It came from a belief I held strongly — that my best work belonged to a future version of me. A version with a larger audience, a stronger platform, and more visibility.

That belief sounded reasonable.

It made me postpone ideas. I shelved content I had already invested time and money into, especially ads. I kept telling myself, “Not now.” Some of those materials never saw the light of day again.

Waiting didn’t protect my work.
It postponed my progress.

The Hidden Cost of Delaying Your Work

Here’s the first lesson I learned the hard way.

Some work is meant for a specific moment. When you delay it, the moment passes. People’s needs change. Context shifts. What could have helped someone today may no longer matter tomorrow.

I missed opportunities to serve simply because I hesitated.

The second lesson was even more important.

If I had shared that work earlier and looked back later, I would have realized something simple but powerful: it wasn’t my final best. It was the best at that time.

And that’s how growth works.

You don’t jump from beginner to expert.
You grow through phases.
You outgrow old work because it did its job.

Outgrowing your old work is not failure.
It’s evidence of progress.

Why Action Creates Growth (Not Waiting)

Eventually, I stopped waiting.

I started putting my best work out consistently. Not perfectly, but honestly. I focused less on timing and more on progress. I showed up, shared what I knew, and improved as I went.

I was bad at writing. Really bad. But I kept posting.

After more than a year of consistency, engagement started to increase. One day, someone told me they looked forward to my posts and described me as a rising creator — and I didn’t even have up to 5,000 followers at the time.

That moment mattered.

Later, when I reviewed my older content and client work, it felt uncomfortable. It sounded rough. It didn’t reflect who I had become.

But nothing was wrong with that work.

It got results.
It taught me structure.
It gave me momentum.

If I had waited for the perfect time to start, I would likely still be stuck at the same level.

Waiting doesn’t prepare you for growth.
Doing does.

Knowledge Without Action Doesn’t Compound

This is a trap many people fall into.

Some people say they know how to write because they’ve taken courses, but they’ve never written consistently or built an audience.

Others believe they understand business because they earned an MBA, but they’ve never actually run one.

Knowledge alone doesn’t create growth.
Application does.

I’ve been running ads multiple times a week for nearly four years now, and I still learn something new regularly — things I didn’t notice in all those years before.

Growth happens through repetition, feedback, and action.

How to Stop Waiting and Start Growing

If there’s one practical takeaway from all this, it’s simple:

Start with the best you have now.

Not the perfect version.
Not the future version.
The current one.

Publishing imperfect work creates feedback. Feedback creates clarity. Clarity creates improvement.

Waiting only delays that process.

Final Thoughts

If you’re holding back something because it doesn’t feel like the right time yet, pause and ask yourself:

What if today is the moment that prepares you for what comes next?

Putting your best effort into today’s work is the fastest way to reach your best tomorrow.

Outgrowing your old work is proof you’re growing.