A few days ago, a friend of mine forwarded me this link to 10 Steps You Can Take To Guarantee Failure. Ordinarily I am a leery of top ten lists with “attention-grabbing” headlines, but since it was passed along by a buddy I checked it out. And a good thing too, because there was one item on the list that whacked my perspective in just the right way (emphasis mine):

Wait until you are motivated – Let’s face it, it’s much too difficult to go jogging or open a mutual fund account when you simply don’t feel like it. So just wait. Waiting gives you the peace of mind that someday, you might do something. But not yet, the timing isn’t right and you aren’t motivated anyway.

Motivation. Feeling. Waiting. These were familiar themes I have struggled with in the past. However, what’s NEW is my realization that I expect motivation to feel like something all-encompassing and dramatic. In my head, I’d be out enjoying the New England autumn, and then the Universe would manifest itself next to me, tap my shoulder with a smile, and whisper into my ear The time is now, Dave! Go! and THEN I’d know what it was I was supposed to do.

I’ve never consciously vocalized this expectation until just now, but I realize it’s true. Here’s a secret: beneath my hard-boiled “skill, competence, or death!” exterior beats the heart of a romantic. I have been expecting / wanting / hoping for a call to action. There’d be trumpets and smoke machines and disco lasers, and Ed McMahon himself would leading a procession bearing a GIANT CARDBOARD CHECK FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE’S SATISFACTION. I’d shake hands with Ed, smile for the cameras, and then buy a facility somewhere in the hills of New Hampshire to build my content creation empire. Mua ha ha ha!

Meanwhile, back on Earth, real-world Dave waits for the tap on the shoulder. And gets older.

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