Imagine this. You're standing at an airport looking to take a flight. You look up at the flight board and the planes leaving could take you almost anywhere in the world, anywhere you've ever dreamed of, and yet they’re all leaving from the same place.

Once the plane takes off lots of things happen in quick succession. Every input taken by the pilot—gain altitude, bank left, bank right—change the path of the plane. These inputs may not account for much initially, though hours into a flight they start to account for a whole lot more. Before long you’re headed in the right direction and there’s generally only a few adjustments here and there to keep you on course.

I like to think this is very similar in many ways to life. We basically all start out kicking and screaming and at some point, for any number of reasons, our paths diverge. We’re constantly making lots of little decisions and over time they start to shape who we become.

Just like with flying, the sooner you act out on these decisions the sooner you’ll set yourself on a particular path. Want to go on a holiday? Start planning. Want to land that dream job? Start looking. Want to learn a new skill? You get the point, the quicker you can make these decisions the quicker you’ll set yourself on a path to where you want to be.

“Better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim for the gutter and collide.”