SIDMA SABAH

A couple hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that until tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more of us would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd say it has a lot to do with fear.

Fear of failure. Fear of pain. Fear of rejection. Sometimes a fear is just of making a decision because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? And you thought I was speaking metaphorically?

The early bird catches the worm. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we haven't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted times, heard the poet urges us to seize the day, still, sometimes we have to see for ourselves, we have to make our own mistakes, we have to learn our lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore.

Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin meant. That knowing is better than wondering. That waking is better than sleeping. And that, even the biggest failure, even the worst most intractable mistake beats the hell out of never trying

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