STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Charles R. Swindoll on Action & Habits

The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you've made up your mind — jump in.

Charles R. Swindoll

Pastor and author known for practical reflections on attitude, choice, and purposeful living


Meet the Giant

Charles R. Swindoll

Charles R. Swindoll is an American pastor, author, and broadcaster known for practical Christian teaching about attitude, relationships, perseverance, and daily choices. Through books and the Insight for Living ministry, he has written extensively about living deliberately rather than postponing what matters. His reflections frequently connect decision with timely action.

What This Means

Charles R. Swindoll’s words point toward a practical truth: change is rarely secured by intention alone. A meaningful life cannot be indefinitely postponed; deliberate decisions eventually have to become action. The important movement happens when an idea becomes behavior—something repeated often enough to influence the direction of a day and, eventually, a life.

This perspective also reduces the pressure to transform everything at once. A repeated action may look small when viewed in isolation, but repetition gives it weight. The question is less whether one perfect effort can change everything and more whether today’s choice supports the direction you want to keep moving.

The invitation in “Stop Waiting for the Perfect Time” is therefore not to admire the idea from a distance. It is to test it against real life. Notice where the principle already appears in your choices, where you resist it, and what one concrete experiment could make the insight more than a quotation.

Why It Matters

This matters because daily behavior is where values and intentions either gain traction or remain theoretical. When motivation changes, a workable practice can keep the direction intact.

A meaningful life cannot be indefinitely postponed; deliberate decisions eventually have to become action. In practice, that can mean making the next step smaller, protecting a boundary, asking a better question, or simply noticing what you usually rush past. The point is not perfection; it is creating a more conscious default.

Used this way, “Stop Waiting for the Perfect Time” becomes a working principle rather than an inspirational slogan: something you can return to when the old pattern reappears.

The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you've made up your mind — jump in.

      

A Moment of Reflection

Where in your life would the principle behind “Stop Waiting for the Perfect Time” help most right now? What is one small action you could repeat this week to make that principle visible in your behavior?

Carry This With You

A meaningful life cannot be indefinitely postponed; deliberate decisions eventually have to become action.


Source & Attribution

Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart (1998), p. 219

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