The Trip I Cancelled That Changed Everything

A friend and I once planned a trip to Las Vegas. We cancelled it, deciding that since we had both just started work, it would be more sensible to wait a year and save more money.

It turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life.

The year was 1977. We were going to Las Vegas to see Elvis Presley in concert. Six weeks later, he was dead. That single decision changed my life forever.

From that moment on, if I wanted to do something, I found a way to do it. No more I’ll think about it, I don’t have time just now, or maybe tomorrow. My philosophy became simple: What is the first action I can take right now, this very moment, to put the wheels in motion?

I often see hesitation play out when people join Wealthy Affiliate to build an online business. They arrive motivated, then realise there’s a process to follow before money starts flowing. That process requires learning, commitment, and action.

That’s often when the brain goes into overdrive. Not to solve the problem, but to create reasons to stop. I know this pattern well. When I tell clients it’s possible to go from zero to millionaire in five years, they don’t focus on what can be done today. They focus on the five years.

• That’s a long time.
• That’s a lot of work.
• I don’t have the time.

So instead of taking the first small step, they build barriers. Fear disguises itself as logic. And “maybe one day” quietly replaces action often with the unspoken hope that luck or a lottery win will do the work for them.

Five years later they are still in the same situation - wishful thinking.

Elvis’s death taught me something that no book or course ever could: there is no later that’s guaranteed. All progress, in business and in life, only ever happens in the present moment.

If something doesn’t work, so what? You’ve learned. You adjust. You move on.

If it does work, you’ve created momentum and momentum has a habit of opening doors you couldn’t see when you were standing still.

The real cost isn’t failure. The real cost is waiting for a “better time” that never comes.