No, life doesn't start tomorrow!

Life doesn’t start tomorrow. If you’re constantly waiting for the children to get older, for more energy or for the perfect time to start a business, one day can simply roll into the next. My advice is to decide what you want and start taking action.

The video is from 31 March 2010, just before Easter. I’ve had a haircut, and a conversation with the hairdresser has got me thinking about how many people are waiting for their real lives to begin.

Life doesn’t start tomorrow, even if you’re busy

While I was getting my hair cut, the hairdresser asked what I did. I told him, and he got really bloody interested. Before long, we were talking about his life.

Among other things, he told me he used to do triathlons and had raced against Lance Armstrong on a bike. There had also been a marriage, a divorce and various things that had gone wrong. That’s his story as he told it to me.

I couldn’t help giving him a bit of coaching. By the end, he was buzzing and asked if I’d be his coach. I had to say no. I didn’t have the time.

But the conversation stayed with me. So many people live dull, half-hearted lives, with one day rolling into the next. You think things will only get really good once something particular has happened.

It might be when your child is out of nappies. When you get a driving licence or a car. When you become an entrepreneur. When you have the energy. There’s always a "when" pushing your life further ahead of you.

Being busy can keep the important questions at bay

We also try to keep ourselves very busy. After all, if you’re busy, you must be important. But being busy can have another effect: We don’t have time to think about what the hell we actually want from this life.

Get the children out of the door, go to work, rush home, cook and then collapse in front of the television. The days can carry on like that. In the video, I mention a friend’s phrase about losing yourself in all the everyday chores. That’s the state I’m thinking of.

Sport used to be a huge part of the hairdresser’s life. Then he got married and stopped from one day to the next. Now he was walking around his salon in trainers and a stained tracksuit.

As I understood it, the business was actually doing well. But he’d also like something more exciting. And I thought: For fuck’s sake, do something about it, then.

Find your way back to what you’re good at

But what should I do, he asked. My answer was that he needed to find his way back to himself. Which days had been great? What had success looked like in his own life? What did other people say he was good at?

For me, it’s largely about using your potential. When you do something you’re good at, you can experience joy and recognition. That can build self-esteem and make you want to get even better. Also read Skab din egen succes on finding your own way and doing something about what you want.

That’s the positive spiral I’m talking about: You get more out of what you do, and that can open up more opportunities, including financial ones. That’s how I see it, not a promise that every change automatically brings in more money.

The opposite spiral is that the days pass, you feel increasingly miserable about your situation, and you know something ought to change. But then you tell yourself that Janteloven, society, circumstances or competition from Asia is holding you back.

The difficult part is looking at yourself and saying: I need to do something about this myself. Because that comes with responsibility.

The contestants are the ones taking a chance

Taking action means getting out of your armchair. It can be uncomfortable. You might get turned down, make a fool of yourself, go bust and work up a sweat. It’s hard and can feel dangerous. But it’s also part of living.

I use Vild med dans as an example. When you’re sitting at home gasping at a contestant who’s about to stumble in high heels, it’s the contestant who has taken the chance.

They’re the ones in the studio who have put themselves on television and risk being laughed at or torn apart in the magazines. They’re also the ones who can experience the victory and the adrenaline. You don’t get that experience by sitting in your armchair watching.

And of course, I’m not talking about you. It’s your neighbour, colleague, sister, brother or everyone else. That’s how I tease people in the video. But if you recognise even a little of yourself, use that to make a decision.

Make the decision and start carrying it out

Start carrying out the decisions you make today, today. In the video, I use smoking and alcohol as blunt examples of habits you keep promising yourself you’ll change. My point is to stop putting it off.

The same goes for the dream of becoming an entrepreneur. You can always say you just need to save a bit more or take another course. But when will you actually be ready?

We were in a crisis in 2010. In the video, I hoped it would be easing in a year or a year and a half, and I thought it was a time to start a business. That was my assessment back then.

If you already had a business and were running it alone, the next thing to put off might be hiring someone until "tomorrow". My message there was the same: Make up your mind now. Life and business don’t automatically change just because another day passes.

Best wishes, Martin