You're Ready. Make the Leap.
It's the universe calling. Please answer.
I woke up this morning with a strange compulsion to write this post. Someone in my circle of friends is thinking of taking a risk. They want to try something new, to leap into the unknown, to burn a ship and start a project that might will take years of struggle to bear fruit. They are on the precipice of one of those “Sliding Door” moments where their life—and entire personality—will hinge one way or the other based on a single decision.
Maybe that person is you. Or maybe it is a friend or family member who needs some encouragement. Either way, this complex adaptive emergent system of the universe that we play our roles in needs us to overcome our fears and make changes. And whether your risk-taking leads to success or failure, the leap will make you a different, better person.
The Shannon Story
This week I caught up with an old friend who I worked with almost 20 years ago. Let’s call him Shannon. After all, that’s his actual name.
For almost his entire career (+20 years), Shannon worked at a single big, global company in a medium-sized, Midwestern U.S. city. He worked up the ladder, getting promotions, and checking the boxes doing the same work. In 2015 he had an opportunity to work in China with this company. It would turn his life upside down, and he’d be a stranger in a strange land. He took the jump.
And he had an amazing experience. Shannon was forced to throw out his company’s decades-old playbooks and build new marketing models on the fly. His consumers bought more of his category through e-commerce than in-store, and teenage girls on WeChat drove a ton of that traffic. This was different. When he wasn’t inventing new marketing processes, he was begging the home office to bend company rules. All the while, he experienced a culture and country with a long history and sudden, dramatic growth.
Shannon returned to the U.S. about a year ago and realized that he no longer had the same kind of challenge in his work and personal life. It was too easy. He had taken big risks, developed unique skills, and wasn’t as interested in playing the political game or following the old, plodding playbook. He had beaten that level of the game and now had the courage and curiosity to pursue something different. He quit his job without another one in hand and is now taking his time to look for his next challenge in a different industry.
He’s still the same smart, super-nice guy I worked with long ago, but now Shannon is a different person. He has accelerated his personal growth. He has fewer regrets and a lot more stories to tell.
I’m Not a Spiritual Guy, But…
Author Steven Pressfield has been one of many virtual mentors throughout the course of my life. His book, The War of Art, is a great start. Pressfield makes the case that the universe calls us to pursue our passions. Maybe it’s God. Maybe we tend to look for validation that we’re on the right track. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got that voice, and it feels good to follow it.
But while we’re tugged to leap and grow, we also have Resistance that is constantly sowing seeds of doubt. The fear comes from most of human history when taking risks had a much higher chance of ending our lives. But today, we have less and less to fear. New jobs are out there even in a recession. Most of our social, financial, and government safety nets are strong.
And whatever you choose to do differently doesn’t have to go as far as a “calling”—just expand yourself, commit, go for it, get off the couch and out of your funk.
You’re not going to die if you take that risk. But you won’t live fully unless you do.
“Fortune favors the bold”
“Take the road less traveled”
“Fear is the mind-killer”
etc.
Shortly after waking up with my mission to inspire today, I was putting on my coat to take the dog out. It’s an OROS brand coat—a company that a couple of Miami University grads. Mine is from the Kickstarter program they launched in 2015, and it’s still the best I’ve ever worn. As seen in my photo above, they printed a motivational slogan inside those coats:
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
There’s your sign. Go.
Bob Gilbreath is a 2x-exit entrepreneur and co-founder of Hearty, a curated matchmaking service that combines top software developers with early-stage, venture-backed startups.