My wife recently shared a video with me from a motivational speaker who talked about how all it really takes to move forward in life is overcoming 20 seconds of fear and then taking the plunge. The point being that what holds us back from taking the plunge into something new is the 20 seconds of fear right before we leap.

I’m not a big fan of motivational speakers, as they’re often trite and try to pass off ideas as deep truth for the sake of generating a bigger audience (growing their business). Despite this, there is truth in much of what they say. In this particular case there is actual scientific evidence that our heart rates are the fastest right before we take a risk, and then we calm down once we’re actually doing the behavior.

I think about this right now as I’m considering my future, and how I want to spend the second half of my life. I’m at a point where I might be facing my ’20 seconds’ in the coming months and years, and it’s both thrilling and scary. However, I feel like I’m finally at a point where I am ready to experience something new and different. The pieces are starting to come together in my head, and it’s exciting, but it’s also ’20 seconds’ of fear.