Risk it, its Worth the Risk!

The biggest roadblock we face when trying to implement something new in our lives is our own mind. When we read or hear the material we become excited, we say, “I can do this”, or even better “I will do this”. We see the importance of the principles taught and if we are wise we will implement them into our daily lives. The problem is, “Life happens”. The world is programming our minds every day; it does not want anyone to excel. You have all hear of the crab in the bucket story; if you put one crab in a bucket it will climb right out. If you place several crabs in a bucket they will not let each other climb out, they will continue to pull each other back down.

People are not much different than crabs, we have a difficult time allowing those around us to exceed beyond our own achievements. We would rather have people maintain the same level of discouragement that we have, rather than help them excel to greater heights. Many of us do this without even thinking about it. We would rather bring others down than to admit that we could have excelled right along with them if we would have put our mind to it. Most people do not want to leave their nice little comfort zone of failure. It’s easier for people to say, “I just can’t do it”, and stay where they are then to try something new and risk failing.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”! (T.S. Elliot)
What if you fail; what do you loose? Possibly some pride; you need to loose that anyway. If you fail are you any worse off than before. No, you are still better off. One of my older brothers worked for years on an idea he had that could revolutionize the trucking industry. He borrowed twenty thousand from a bank and started pushing the idea. It was only about six months before he realized the idea wasn’t working. In his mind he had just lost twenty thousand dollars. I beg to differ; he just gained an education he could never have paid for with twenty thousand dollars. He received an education on how to run a business, structure an S-Corp, secure a business loan, hire employees and sale a product not to mention the mental aspects of doing something on your own.

He understands the difficulty of self-discipline being the boss, being solely responsible for getting out of bed and making sure you are turning a profit each and every day. Give me a University that teaches a program like that, it just isn’t out there. The only place knowledge like that can be learned is in the University of Hard Knocks. If we fail to recognize the lessons that can be taught from the trials and failures in life we will miss eighty percent of the opportunities for growth. People who are afraid of looking stupid and refuse to try new things are missing many opportunities for growth. I would rather try to reach new heights and fail and have the knowledge gained from the experience than to sit there and do nothing.

People have a hard time letting go of old habits. You’ve heard the saying, “Old habits die hard,” well it’s true. For example, when my wife and I were first married we had a few things we did differently. One of the things I did that irritated her was, after I left a room I would turn off the light, even if I was coming right back to the room. She once told me to leave the lights on because it used more electricity to turn the light on and off then it did just by leaving them on. When she first told me her theory I almost fell over laughing. A word of advise to couples, laughing and mocking your newly-wed wife about her beliefs no matter how bazaar, is not a good idea.

It took a quick little lesson on electricity and how electrons worked before my wife stopped complaining.We all have beliefs and none of us want to admit for a minute that any of them could be wrong. Many people will keep walking down the same path of failure rather than correct their mistakes and face the fact that they are wrong. It is never easy to step out of your comfort zone. It’s warm and familiar in there, but it’s out there where the growth takes place. Once you step out of your comfort zone and begin to excel you will realize how damaging staying there for so long was.

When you decide to step out of your nice little comfort zone and change something in your life is when you will start to see real results. Too many times in our lives we let the fear of failure stop us from doing what we want to do. We need to take that fear and turn it into positive energy. I believe the best way to assure success is by being prepared. A world champion runner does not get to be a world champion by putting on nice running shoes and getting some tight spandex. That world champion runner will practice for hours per day and for many years.
Start today, do something different today, simply drive home a different way; start small if you must but please start today!