A surprising amount of professional life is spent waiting. Not consciously, and never described that way, but waiting nonetheless. Waiting for the reorganisation to settle before starting the thing. Waiting for the new manager, who will presumably be more supportive. Waiting for the funding round, the quieter quarter, the moment when the conditions finally permit the work you actually want to do.

Occasionally the awaited thing arrives. More often it does not, or it arrives and turns out not to have been the obstacle. And in the meantime, the waiting itself has consumed something that does not come back. What makes this so hard to detect from inside is that waiting feels entirely reasonable at every individual moment. It is not laziness, and the stated reasons are usually true. The cost only becomes visible in aggregate, several years later, when you notice how long you have been about to start.

The thought that has been useful to me is blunter than I would normally put it: nobody is coming. If the thing is worth doing, it will have to be done under conditions that are imperfect, with less time than it deserves, and without anyone's endorsement. That is not a counsel of despair. It is the recognition that waiting for the right circumstances is a decision in itself, and usually a worse one than starting badly. So, as a reflection for today: what are you waiting for permission on that you could simply begin this week?