Have you ever had a moment where you've said something and as you're saying it you kind of can't believe what you're saying?

I was talking to some new friends this weekend about some of our experiences and how our lives have changed over time. I was telling the story of how I used to leave the house in a taxi at 5.30am on Monday morning to fly out to wherever I happened to be working that week and then return on a Friday.

And especially about how travel turned from being glamorous to being a burden. How every Monday morning I'd find myself thinking “why am I doing this?”.

I did the “fly out on a Monday” thing as a consultant for about 13 years. And for about six or so of them I'd be thinking “why am I doing this?”

As I explained this it dawned on me that it had taken rather a long time for me to go from realising I wasn't enjoying it to actually doing something about it. Over six years. Wow.

Some of the work I do with clients these days gives them a new perspective on their marketing. Shows them things they just hadn't thought of before.

But often, just like me on a Monday morning, they already know they need something different. Sometimes they even know what that different thing is.

But when you've done something for a long, long time it becomes part of you. It's just what you do. It's easy. You know how to do it.

Even though you don't like it, or it's not really getting you the results you need, it's a lot less scary than something completely new that might not work at all. Or might make you look silly.

It took over six years (and a lot of encouragement from Kathy) for me to get the courage to give up the certain income that came with the travel and do what I really wanted to do.

Don't let it take you that long to try something new in your marketing.

You don't have to change everything. But pick one thing you don't think is working well and drop it for a few months and do something else instead. Stop networking, start speaking. Stop twitter, start blogging. Or vice versa.

If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn't, try something else.

Not rocket science. Obvious on paper. Trickier to do in real life. Hence the six years.

Don't you waste six years, or even six months.