Struggles

News
No new updates for this week.

I had a sudden change in my schedule so unfortunately, I am not able to share my thoughts with you this week.

Instead, I'll leave you with a story:

Life Struggles
A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.

The moth seemed to be stuck and appeared to have stopped making progress. It seemed as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. The man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth; so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But its body was swollen and small, its wings wrinkled and shriveled. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to and able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a small, swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. The man in his kindness and haste did not understand that the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was necessary to force fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight upon achieving its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets, and don't forget the power in the struggle.

-Author Unknown

Have an outstanding week.

Comfort

Quote
"Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket."
-Andrew Carnegie

My Thoughts
Many people haven't heard this advice. It sounds risky, doesn't it? Most people dread the thought of taking risks or of getting uncomfortable. Here's the thing, if you want serious change in your life you have to take risks and you have to get uncomfortable.

How uncomfortable do you have to get? I suppose it has to do with how much change you want.
I also mentioned a few weeks ago about sacrifice.
I would like to share what is going on in my life at the moment. Why am I sharing this now? In hopes that if this inspires just one person then this message has done it's job. You know we have all heard Steve Jobs, Oprah, Donald Trump, etc... tell us to follow our passion. I know what some people think:
"Well that is easy for them to say. Look at them, they have succeeded in their fields. What about me? I can't do that."
To some people it's almost as if Jobs, Oprah, and Trump have reached the top of a mountain and are yelling down at all of us "Just keep climbing, you'll get here eventually".

I am in the process of climbing my own mountain. So I want to share this with all of you. All of us have our own struggles to overcome. It helps knowing that someone else has been through the same thing, or even endured more.

I walked away from a job that paid me $10,000 a month after taxes. I left behind a stable job, great benefits, and excellent vacation time to pursue a dream. That was just the beginning.
This is what has happened over the course of the last year or so:
I moved out of a nice apartment
I sold my car
I sold all my stock
I sold my 401k
I've used up most of my available credit
I recently started counting all the coins I have

Sacrifice. I have been here before, just not this far down.
In 2003, I had 500 won left in my bank account and I owed about $2500 on my credit card.
Five years later I had managed to pull myself up, and I had saved $100,000.
I owed nothing on credit cards.
Now I find myself back in 2003, except in a far more challenging situation.

You may be wondering why on earth did this guy do this to himself? It has all been to pursue a dream.
The interesting thing is I've had three job offers over the past year. All of them would put me back into being comfortable. They all pay between $8,000-$10,000 a month. I have turned them all down.
Why? For a dream.

How much are you willing to give up for your dream? How uncomfortable are you willing to get?

I firmly believe that you have the ability to change your life if you truly would like to. As I have said many times before, we all have our lessons to learn from life. This is just one of my lessons. It's not bad, it's not good. It just is.

Right now, I am in a stare down with failure. One of us will blink first. It won't be me.
I will get to the top of my mountain. When? I can't say for sure.
But know this, I will be here, climbing.
One day I will reach what appears to be the top.
I will look back on what I have accomplished, on what I have learned.
I will realize how much I have grown.
I will then look up, and notice the mountain has also grown.
There is still more to go. I'll have so much more to learn because it's impossible to know everything.

I'll have learned all of this through experience. It's not what I read in a book, or what I learned from my coaching certification, or what Steve Jobs, Oprah, Trump, Carnegie etc... told me, it's what I have experienced.
Why? Because I climbed the mountain.
I put all my eggs in one basket.
I risked everything....All for a dream.

Until next time...

Security

Here is something to think about:
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
-Helen Keller

My Opinion
We all must break out of our comfort zones in order for change to take place. This can be quite scary at times, and obviously will be uncomfortable. The bigger the change, usually the more uncomfortable you will feel. So many of us often get stuck doing something in life that we dislike, or even hate. If you really think about, we stay because we feel safe, secure, and comfortable. If you dislike where you are currently at in your life, I urge you to think about what is it that you really want? What is it that you are truly passionate about? After finding the answer, go out and start living your adventure.

Until next time....