What Are You Waiting For?

This article originally appeared on The Official Justin blog

My wife and I had dinner with a precocious young friend in New York City last week. I use the term precocious because she's far wiser than I ever was at her age (25). When I think back to what I was doing at age 25, I cringe.

Our friend told us a lot had changed since we saw her last, and she shared some transformations that resulted in a lot of new happiness and harmony in her life. I was inspired by her commitment to change in a positive way, so I wanted to share it with the community.

For some context, I've always known this girl to be fit and active - going to spinning classes, doing yoga, and jogging. Even though she had always been an athlete, she wanted to start having more fun with a group of like-minded people. So it began with a simple change.

She joined a running group of serious athletes.

Influence

To start, she was the slowest of the pack and felt inferior. She was surrounded by people that were faster and better, some practicing for the Olympics.

But in this group, which she joined just for fun, she found herself surrounded by positive influence. The fast runners encouraged her that she could run longer and faster too, and it started to happen. She immediately recognized that positive influence meant better performance and MORE fun.

She ran her first marathon last December. She had not believed she'd be able to do it, but she ran the whole distance and finished in five hours. She credited not just her work ethic, but the support group she had joined, which lifted her to new heights.

Empowered, she started looking for other things to conquer.

Action

We're talking about a meat and potatoes kind of girl here. A long-time lover of steak, she stopped eating meat, started feeling more alert, and shed a few pounds. With the change in diet and reduction in weight, she started sleeping better. In her mind, positive changes were starting to snowball, and it pushed her further in her pursuit of positivity, performance, and fun.

She pruned negative friendships, friends who would stand her up for a date, or people who just wanted to party all of the time. These weren't real friends she'd call for real help or advice - she felt like she was just there as a fallback plan. Out they went.

She realized she missed an old friend who lived out in Bushwick. She had not made it a priority to see her because it wasn't convenient. She started making trips to see this friend who really lifts her up.

She wanted to take things to the next level, and she was feeling an incredible sense of empowerment with her new choices. Next up? Create.

She founded a running club for women in New York City.

She's 25.

With all of this, she'd also come to assess her career at a tech startup she's worked for over the last three years. She evaluated where the job was going, wondering if it really supported her life goals. Was she checking the right boxes?

She made a list of the things she wanted in a career - including what kinds of people she wanted to help, what she wanted to learn, and what kind of industry she wanted to grow in.

Her assessment proved she IS in the right place. She's passionate about her daily work, and she's developing new skills under a supportive manager that she admires.

Enlightened, she made peace with the challenges her work comes with, determining the negative aspects of her job are relatively insignificant. She's playing the long game.

Initiative

We have so many options for how we spend our time and whom we spend it with.

My brilliant, young friend took the initiative to look around and say - "These things aren't working for me. I can do better," and she took action. Once she decided to make moves, she didn't look back.

Taking action and making big changes is what makes this story unique. We all know we can do better, or we should do better. But what do most of us do with that? Nothing.

I can't take credit for this story, because it's not mine. Just passing along the good vibes here, folks.

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PS: Our friend just ran her second marathon a few weeks ago, in 3:45. I can't wait to see what's next.