It’s only a matter of time, or, The power of “when”.

I’ve always had bad luck with counting successes before they happen. That time I didn’t get a consulting position last summer was made much, much worse by my telling at least half my friends beforehand that I had it in the bag. This experience and others prompted me to declare a moratorium on pre-emptive bragging-nothing was said until whatever awesome thing was going to happen, had happened.

This little shift trickled down into the language I used. I started saying “if”, instead of “when”. The biggest example is the three or so months I spent saying “if” or “hopefully” regarding whether or not I’d get into business school. It felt good to be a bit more humble, and to know that I wasn’t tempting the universe to throw me a curveball.

This past week, I applied to be a mentee of Daniel Hill, a heavy-hitter in the field of communications. Among the three questions the application had, the last one struck me: “how are you going to change the world?”

The question implicitly assumes that you’re going make an impact, and that it’s only a matter of time. This wasn’t a place to use “if”. The ultimatum was simple: are you, or are you not, going to change the world?

For the first time in a long time, I wrote “when”. “When I change the world”.

And it felt good.

This wasn’t counting my chickens before they hatched. This wasn’t bragging. This was making a promise, to myself and anyone reading. “When I change the world.”

“When I change the world”, I’m going to be a great consultant, or a great entrepreneur, or both. I’m going to maintain a social conscience all the while. I’m going to go into politics. When I change the world, it won’t be as some lucky occurrence, something to attribute to a circumstance of “if”. It’ll be the product of 20 or 30 years of work and planning. I know it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of time.

Now, some of you might consider saying “when” to be incredibly brash. Sometimes I think so too. But it demonstrates a powerful self-confidence that you can make these claims. Saying “when” is a promise. You don’t make many of them, but those you make, you keep. It’s on you to deliver, and as such, “when” is not something to be said lightly.

This is the situation I find myself in. I said “when I change the world”. I have to back it up.

As for how some employers would be perceive your usage of the word, it’s possible some might see it as arrogance. Others might see it as confidence, and give you a chance to back your words up.

In the case of this mentorship, my confidence worked. My application was accepted, and now I need to back my confidence up with action. By doing so, I’ll be changing myself, further improving my commitment to action. And by improving myself, I get one step closer to changing the world.

Editor’s note: If you have a topic idea, I’d love to hear from you! Suggestions can be made in the comments section or on Twitter @JeremyDeMello.