Welcome back for day 4 of 30. It seems like this blog thing is getting a little easier to make time for. Since I am expecting to stop what I am doing during the day to write a little here it doesn't feel like a burdensome task. The more I am doing it, the easier the words seem to flow out. So hopefully this continues and I will be a master blogger/time manager in 30 days... right?
Today I got the chance to stop by G&B Coffee here in L.A. and was lucky enough to bump in to my buddy Charles Babinski. We had the chance to catch up a little and talk about our current goings on and in our discussions Charles bestowed some brutal truths upon me, which simultaneously made me cringe and happy to hear. This conversation topic is what I want to talk about for today's post.
This is about following your heart and letting your passion lead you to success. In our chat, Charles told me I was being too conservative and really needed to jump in to some of the new ventures that I want to do. I will leave the specifics of what I am wanting to do for later, but for now I want to say that he is absolutely right in his assessment of where I'm at in life.
When it comes to working for myself, nothing seems to be more frightening than fully committing to a new concept. Questions like "Will it be special enough?" or "Other people have done it before" pop into your head. These questions sort of seize your brain and keep you from making decisive moves. But when I have started thinking about these new business ideas since talking with Charles, I realize that it isn't quite so frightening. It means putting your bets into one pot and taking a risk. Luckily when you are capable and know your business it doesn't mean throwing your sense out the window, but rather turning down the caution/fear knob considerably. All business ventures have risk involved, but if you don't take the chance you will never have the chance for success.
This is echoed in the sense that it is really about letting your passion guide you. So many times I have let the uncertainty or fear of failure hold me back.
I bet you have too.
But you can feel your heart yearning for certain things. It could be a place you want to move, a job you want to do, or a cause you want to join.
Now don't get me wrong, not everything that holds me back is caused by fear. There is another side to this coin in my case, which is that I have too many ideas! So many concepts and ideas come and go in my head that it is almost impossible to keep track of them all. So many great ideas get put on a back burner and eventually forgotten that it feels like starting from scratch constantly. This comes from a lack of focus as well as the failure to commit.
The solution for me is to focus on the things that I truly feel passion for and not let myself get distracted by all of the other fleeting, yet cool, ideas that come and go. I want to let my heart free, and let it take me to the successes and goals that really make me happy. Maybe you should do the same. People always say cute phrases like "failure is a learning opportunity" and "the best way to learn is to fail", which might be totally true but those words of wisdom never stop the pain of failure from hurting. Failure sucks! It feels awful. But if you love what you are doing when you fail it sure is easier to take. If we focus on what might fail, we won't see what can succeed.
So here is what I ask: Stop procrastinating and saying "it probably wouldn't work". If you have a fire in your belly, you need to say "I'm going to make this work. I believe in it!" Take a reasonable risk and allow yourself to succeed. Keep focus on your goals and don't let anything distract you from your own success.
That's it for today. If Charles reads this one, I just want to say thank you for being honest and not being afraid to hurt my feelings with truth, because you have done exactly the opposite. I am seeing more clearly and feeling a bit more focus (granted it's only been half a day). Thank you my friend!
Thanks for listening to me pour out feelings today. It feels to good to let it out.
Pete