This would be a great title for a book – “Waiting for Life to Happen.”

It would be a best seller because most of us are afflicted with the waiting disease and are hell-bent on finding a cure.

We don’t wait with the patience of Job but rather with the frenetic action of the “Energizer” bunny.

Waiting is our video game of choice and we play it all the time.

Here’s one of life’s secrets: Waiting produces more waiting.

To be more precise with the book title, we are waiting for a preferred “slice” of life to happen, rather than life itself. Life is happening all the time in every moment, so no waiting is necessary.

The waiting we do is for something that has really low odds of happening – winning the lottery, being discovered, and a whole host of other pipe dreams that suggest we don’t have to work at them.

“I’ll do this until what I really want to do comes along” is the silent agenda of the waiter. Here’s a clue: It’s not coming along.

The waiter has more starts and stops than a New York City bus. They build up a head of steam for a city block and then come to a screeching halt. They repeat this pattern for a lifetime. They haven’t learned the lesson of sustained effort. Anyone who is living life now and not waiting for it to happen is progressively working at making something happen.

The missing piece of most plans is “doing.” Living life is doing because life is always moving forward and if you are not moving with it, you are left behind, waiting.

Yes, there is plenty of reflecting that goes on with someone living life. That quiet time is the “pause that refreshes” to quote an old soft drink commercial.

When you constantly wait, your body gets used to inertia and it’s harder to feel the life that’s always coursing through your veins. Look at someone living life and you can see a palpable energy moving them along.

Waiting for life to happen is suicide on the installment plan.

The good news is this: There is a cure for waiting – it’s doing. If you’re waiting for doing to come along, you’ve missed the point. Doing, like life, is always present. Doing is not on a waiting list. Doing is happening now. You just have to tap into its energy and let it propel you along.

Waiting for life to happen? It’ll be a long wait. Doing is the catalyst that makes life happen. If it’s not happening for you, may I strongly suggest “Do.”

All the best,

John