Simple Questions

What are you doing to make today better than yesterday?

What are you doing to grow in to the person you want to be?

What are you doing to help others reach their potential?

How much more can you do?

What's stopping you?

Simple questions, but not so simple answers. What would happen if you actually answered these?

Be Better

We live in a world where very few people want to make decisions. In school, we were trained to do what we were told. We were instructed on how important it is to be on time, to do the assigned work, to memorize useless facts and to fit in. Failing at anything was the worst thing you could do, followed closely by thinking for yourself and standing out. Many of us spent years and tens of thousands of dollars learning how to be a good, little employee, but nothing else.

This world has enough followers and good employees. Too many people have become so afraid of being wrong, they do nothing. They freeze. What we are desperately lacking are people who can think for themselves. We need leaders. We need people who can make decisions. We need people who can learn from their mistakes. Hell, we need people who have the guts to stick their neck out and make mistakes.

It's okay if you just want to be a cog in the machine. You can be a follower and a good employee, never making decisions, never taking chances and never really making a difference. This blog is probably not for you. For everyone else, take some chances. Make choices. Decide. Think for yourself. Make mistakes. Stick your neck out. Stand out. Yes, you may "get in trouble" or "get called to your boss's office" but are these really things to be afraid of?

What's really the worst that could happen? What happens if you make a choice and it turns out to be a really smart move? We have to stop being so afraid of being wrong. Instead, we should fear being insignificant. Fear doing nothing. Fear being only a cog. Fear being one of the masses.

Be a leader. Start making decisions. Make mistakes and learn from them. Think for yourself. Be better than you have been in the past. What do you have to lose? More importantly, what do you have to gain?

Your Comfort Zone

Sure, you can continue to do what you know. You can take no risks and know the outcome of everything you try. You can eat the same foods and go to the same places and do the same things. You can play it safe. You can shy away from the things that scare you.

But, what's the point? How many amazing things have happened to you because you played it safe and didn't take any risks? How many new and interesting people have you met by hanging out in the same places? How many times have you felt really accomplished when your actions are directed by anxiety and fear?

The really good things in life tend to happen when we are out of our comfort zone. We learn and grow and evolve by challenging ourselves and pushing through the anxiety and fears into new places, ones where we aren't perfectly comfortable. In these places, we can have new ideas, meet new people and do any number of things that are interesting and exciting. Anything can happen when you don't know what to expect.

Start small, if you want. Try a new type of food you normally wouldn't try. Go to a gym you have never visited. Strike up a conversation with someone you've never met. Read a book you wouldn't normally read. Attend a networking event you would normally skip. The more and more you do this, the easier it will become.

Once you start doing the little things, you will find yourself pushing more and more. Once you stop letting anxiety and fear dictate your direction, you will find yourself doing more interesting and life-changing things. Would you prefer to live a life where you have a good idea of what is going to happen, with very few ups and downs or do you want to live a life where you aren't sure what is going to happen, but you know there is a chance for something amazing?

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone...isn't it about time you stepped beyond it?