Shorten The Leap
Your authentic life awaits you on the other side of an intimidating risk.
The risk could be leaving your “safe” job, deploying some of your savings, being vulnerable and sharing your craft publicly, or moving to a new city. As you assess the perceived risks standing between you and your authentic life, it will be very easy to talk yourself into staying in the status quo.
We are very good at analyzing the risks of making a change but often overlook the risks of NOT making a change. The risks of inaction are just as important to consider and potentially more “risky” as they keep you from pursuing your authentic life.
You cannot experience life without taking risks–you can get through life minimizing your risk-taking but you will not fully experience it.
When staring down risk on the way to your authentic life, think of it as a leap you have to make from one side to another. The area you are trying to clear is not a bottomless pit that ends your existence if you don’t make it to the other side. The area you are trying to clear is a stenchful, muddy, and rocky creek–you definitely don’t want to fall in it but if you do you’ll recover after you clean yourself off.
As you initially look across the creek to the other side, the leap might seem too far. The risk of falling into the nasty water might seem too great and the odds of you safely landing on the other side are not in your favor.
There is good news…you have the ability to magically bring the two sides of the creek closer together. You can shorten the leap to make it less intimidating and increase the probability of a safe, dry, and clean landing on the other side.
The first step in shortening the leap is to identify the perceived risks and why they scare you. Chances are the initial reasons you acknowledge are not the real reason you are intimidated to make the leap…dig deeper and talk to someone who can help you pull back the layers of your onion to discover the root of your fear. Once you’ve acknowledged the true reason you remain in the status quo you can move to the second step.
The second step is to plan. Begin to address your fears and concerns by creating a plan for life on the other side of the creek. Create a business plan, save money, identify the needs of your new life, envision the changes, have a backup plan, understand where customers will come from, and anything else that helps you realize the fear keeping you from your authentic life is not as real as you perceive it to be…fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.
It’s important to understand you’ll never be able to bring the two sides of the creek fully together…the stenchful, muddy, and rocky creek will always be there because life will always bring new challenges or reasons to stay to you. Something will always come up right when you think you have every concern addressed and feel it’s finally safe to take that leap. You’ll be waiting forever to reach your authentic life if your plan is to bring both sides of the creek together.
This brings the third and final step…LEAP.
Eventually, you have to take that leap. You have to trust you’ve addressed your concerns to the extent that you can, you’ve shortened your leap through planning, and that the probability of you landing on the other side closer to your authentic life is now in your favor.
Don’t miss out on your authentic life because of perceived risks. Shorten the leap standing in front of you, get a good running start, and then make that leap…
You’ll wish you had done it sooner.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
