September 3rd, 2026
The Most Expensive Word Is Later
Over the years, I have come to believe that "later" may be one of the most expensive words in the English language. I’ve learned that an important part of making a decision is knowing whether time is working for you or against you. Sometimes waiting is smart. It can bring clarity or a better opportunity. Other times, every day you wait makes the situation worse.
The challenge is knowing whether time is working for you or against you.
But when I step back from business and look at life, I realize something more important. Time is not on our side. Several years ago, my friend Bruce was trying to convince me to join him and some buddies on another motorcycle trip to Mexico. I had ridden Baja with them before, and those trips were some of the best times of my life. But this time I was busy. Too busy, I told him.
Bruce reminded me of the giant roadside signs we used to pass on our rides, the ones advertising a "Mystery Spot" or some strange attraction down a dirt road. I would see the sign, think it sounded interesting and keep riding because we had somewhere to be. I could always stop next time. Bruce's point was simple. We spend much of our lives doing exactly that.
Life does not promise a next time.
I still did not take that trip. And there was never another one. The trip before it became the last time I would ride through Mexico with those friends, eating shrimp, exploring Baja and doing something I assumed we would all do again. I just did not know it was the last time while it was happening.
Eventually, there is a last time for everything, and we rarely recognize it when it arrives. Tomorrow has shown up so reliably that we begin treating it like a guarantee. Miss dinner this week and there is probably next week. Skip the vacation this year and there is probably next year. Put off the phone call today and there is probably tomorrow. Most of the time, we are right, and that is how the habit of "later" becomes so easy.
Then comes the one time we are wrong. You do not know when you are having the last ordinary afternoon with a parent, the last summer when all the kids are still living at home, the last lunch with an old friend, or the last time you will hug someone you love. It looks like every other moment until it becomes the one you cannot get back. Later just never arrives.
What makes the word later so dangerous is that it does not sound like a refusal. Because postponement feels temporary, it rarely feels costly. After work settles down. After the holidays. After we have more money. After life becomes less complicated. But life is remarkably good at replacing later with never.
So I think about Bruce's Mystery Spot whenever I catch myself saying "later." There are decisions where patience pays. There are decisions where waiting costs you. And then there are moments in life where you may never get another chance.
If you knew you could not do it later, would you do it now? If the answer is yes, pay attention.
Because later feels free when we use it. The bill only comes due when there is no more later.
That is what makes later so expensive.
