Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about timing.
As in, what’s the right timing to make a change, wrap up a project, or take on a new habit. And, most importantly, how do we know when it’s time to trigger those events.
I’ve definitely been thinking of this, in part, because I’m currently going through a kitchen renovation. We’ve been living in our house for a little over three years and this year the timing was finally right to start making some changes.
I’m pretty sure that if we had tried to make those changes earlier, it wouldn’t have worked as well as it’s working now. Here are some reasons why:
- We weren’t ready financially. Since we wanted to make renovations to our home without going into debt we needed some time to build up our savings so that we could pay for everything as it was happening.
- We didn’t know what we wanted. Sometimes it takes a while of living with something that isn’t ideal in order to know how best to change it so that it’s just right for you.
- The company we’re using is new. We chose to work with a small business in our area and it’s been great, but they didn’t exist a year ago and we could have had a very different experience if we had worked with someone else.
- We’re doing more than we originally planned. Although we first planned to just upgrade the kitchen with new cabinets and counters, we ended up deciding to have our entire downstairs wood floor refinished so that we could extend it into the kitchen space. Then, we also chose to upgrade the vanities and sinks in two upstairs bathrooms. By waiting until the financial timing was right on this project, we were able contract out more work in a smaller window of time.
It’s also been amazing to me that making these changes to our home have triggered other changes, like upgrading some of our living room furniture. Since we have to move everything out of the house to get the floors refinished, the timing seemed right to replace the large couch we bought years and years ago.
One of the things I’m learning is that change creates more change, and if you’re not ready for it in the first place, you’re going to be pretty uncomfortable along the way.
I’m so glad that we waited on this project until we were ready. We accepted a kitchen situation that wasn’t ideal for years, but it meant that we got to trigger the cascade of changes to our home at just the right time when we were ready for them.
I can see how this applies to so many other areas of my life. Making change when you’re ready is so much easier than trying to force something before it’s time.
To think on:
- Where are you ready to make change in your life right now?
- Where do you want to make change in the future, but you still need time before you’re ready?