TAKE THE SHOT!!!

My brother once told me “after you finish making money for your employer go home and work on your own dreams”. That rang loudly and brought fresh perspective to how I function daily. Oftentimes we spend countless hours working and creating someone else’s dreams that we put our own on the backburner. We are so fueled by making that next buck that we often become slaves to the agendas of others. There are certain gifts, talents etc. that we let go to waste for a variety of reasons and choose to never pursue them and use them to leave great legacies.

One of the biggest reasons for not pursuing after our goals is a fear of taking risks. The idea of failing leaves many of us in a state of “rigamortis” afraid to move and stuck in the same place of normality. Every dream WORTH chasing involves some level of risk and naturally the thought of not succeeding comes to mind. Let me clear it may very well be the case that the way you envisioned the accomplishment of your goals may not become a reality. Someone once said that “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. The idea of completing an objective or reaching a goal should be exhilarating and should light a fire that produces a level of momentum.

While starting my website plenty thoughts of doubts and insecurities crossed my mind. Thoughts like

“Who would want to really look at my website”?

“Why would you pursue something that will ultimately fail”?

“You haven’t even created a website before it will not be appealing”?

All of these ideas flew around my mind like a carousel and for many days and stopped me dead in my tracks. Soon after I realized that I was basing my success on the volume of people who visited my site (which there is success in that). However, the true success in it is reaching and engaging with people who actually need my product, whatever that number might be. I have big goals for my website, even to the extent of becoming a household name but it would of never happen until I took the first shot. No matter how ugly and uninspiring that first attempt was, I owe it to myself to go after it with a sense of excellence.

Make time for your own passions and desires. Put the time into it with the same ferocity that you would someone else’s goals and keep people around you who back your talents. Celebrate the small victories and don’t give up when faced with the first sign of failure.  Failures and risks help to build the strength needed to persevere.  Don’t sleep on your dreams just because others don’t see it, it’s time to create your brand, a brand that helps others and leaves a lasting impact.