Marcus Aurelius on the cost of waiting
Marcus Aurelius wrote, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
Think back a year. What did you tell yourself you’d get around to “soon”? Launching a new service. Raising rates. Building out a marketing plan. Did you do it? Or has another year slipped by?
I see this all the time in coaching. Business owners stuck in the “someday” cycle, waiting for the perfect moment to act. That moment doesn’t exist.
I learned this in my own business. Early on at the home health agency, I hired a Director of Nurses who interviewed well and had good references. What I didn’t know was that she had a temper. It started small. A harsh word here, a snide comment there. I told myself each one was just a bad day. The bad days kept coming.
Her anger didn’t fit our culture. We worked hard at treating people with kindness and assuming good intentions. Still, I waited. When I finally let her go, my staff was disappointed. Not in the decision. In how long I had taken to make it.
That experience taught me: when it’s time to move, move.
The Cost of Waiting
Marcus Aurelius warned, “Stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions.” Most business owners do exactly that. They let distractions pull them away from what matters.
I had a friend who ran a successful consulting business. She saw an opening for a training program aimed at healthcare administrators. The need was clear. She had the expertise and the connections. But she kept fine-tuning the program, tweaking the materials, waiting until everything was perfect.
A year later, two national companies launched similar programs. The opening hadn’t closed, but it had changed. She wasn’t leading anymore. She was competing.
That’s how time works. When you hesitate, someone else takes the ground.
The Illusion of More Time
“Remember that you are a mortal being,” Marcus Aurelius wrote. “You don’t have infinite days ahead of you.”
What does that look like in a business? Avoiding the hard decisions. Postponing the changes you know are coming. Putting off the conversations you know you need to have.
I had a client who knew she should raise her rates and waited years to do it. She was overworked and underpaid. She was afraid of losing clients. Eventually she did the work, raised the rates, and didn’t lose a single client. Another client had a different system. She raised rates for new clients every six months and increased existing rates gradually.
One approach kept her stressed. The other gave her stability.
The Reality of Time
Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Don’t act as if you had a thousand years to live.”
The procrastination you do today becomes tomorrow’s crisis. The opportunities you assume will wait often don’t. The problems you ignore tend to get worse, not better.
Successful business owners aren’t necessarily the most talented. They’re the ones who understand that time is short. So they act.
Making Time Matter
“Life is short—the fruit of this life is a good character and acts for the common good.”
What that looks like in a business:
Be honest with yourself. What have you been postponing? What opportunities are slipping past? What problems are you ignoring?
Set deadlines. Make decisions that have long-term impact. Stop waiting for conditions to be perfect.
Focus on actions that build lasting value. Cut tasks that just fill the day. Make choices your future self will thank you for.
The Time Is Now
The business owners I admire didn’t get where they are by waiting. They acted, often before they felt ready, usually before conditions were perfect.
Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
Same in business. Stop debating what a good business should be. Build one.
Look at your business. What changes have you been postponing? What growth have you been delaying? What decisions have you been avoiding?
You don’t find success by waiting for perfect conditions. You find it by acting now, even when you’re not sure. Every day you wait is a day you can’t get back.
Before you move on today, take five minutes. Pick one thing you’ve been putting off. Take the first step on it.
What’s your next move?
About the Author
Ron Tester is a physical therapist with thirty years in the field. He built, grew, and operated a multidisciplinary home health company employing PTs, OTs, and SLPs through a successful exit. He now coaches outpatient PT, OT, and SLP clinic owners on operating at the owner level. Certified Executive Coach and Book Yourself® Solid Coach. Learn more at https://rontestercoaching.com/about.