I’m referring, of course, to that loud strike of midnight between one year and the next.

Have you noticed how we’ve all bought into this fiction that January 1st possesses some kind of transformative magic? As if the arbitrary point where we flip the calendar suddenly grants us a burst of willpower we didn’t have on December 28th? As if motivation respects Gregorian calendars?

It’s nonsense. Worse — it’s expensive nonsense.

The Cost of Waiting:

Every year, capable leaders delay good ideas, waiting for the ‘right time’ that may never come.

Meanwhile, the actual best time to start was probably a random Tuesday in March. Or that moment in October when you first had the thought. The calendar didn’t care then, and it doesn’t care now.

The Real Pattern:

Here’s what I’ve learned after seven years of weekly newsletters and three and a half years of podcast conversations with leaders building sustainable businesses. The ones who actually change things don’t wait for perfect conditions or certainty. They start messy, they start mid-quarter, they start on the ‘wrong’ day, and they embrace uncertainty instead of waiting for permission from the calendar.

The Liberating Truth:

You haven’t missed anything, regardless of your unique situation or goals. There is no universal starting line, so today is as good as any.

Better, actually, because you’re not competing with everyone else’s resolution noise.

The Invitation:

So what’s the thing you’ve been waiting to start ‘when the time is right’? The conversation you’ve been avoiding? The business model you know needs changing? The legacy work you keep pushing to ‘next year’? Recognize that waiting for perfect timing is a myth. Take small, immediate steps today to move forward.

The calendar isn’t coming to save you. Or me. Or any of us.

And that’s actually the best gift any of us could receive to welcome in the next twelve months.