#1 - THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU: NOTHING
This is what my friend Sonia Choquette loves to say. And she is so damn right. We often think that it is risky to launch a business or start in freelance to do what you love, and it might just be on certain levels. But we never counterbalance it with the fact that it is riskier NOT to do it!
We're here for a short moment and it is definitely a bigger risk if nothing interesting happens to you because you preferred to stay in a job that brings you security. And the longer you stay, the harder it gets to get out of it. You don't want to risk it.
But at the risk to state the obvious and repeat what you heard a million times, we always have to come back the hard truth: we only live one life. You either make it about sitting in your couch repeating yourself that you are safe or make it about adventure, discovery, meeting interesting people, giving, sharing, evolving. Actually, ask yourself this question:
What is a rich life to you?
Go aheads, take 10 seconds or a few minutes. My bet is that you might think about what is meaningful to you. About what makes you vibrate, what interests you, what is aligned with who you are deep down, what is aligned with your values and representation of life. And you might not think of your job as the n°1 factor that brings you meaning, purpose and fulfillment.
#2 REGRETS: YOU WILL NEVER KNOW
If you never try, you’ll never know. Do you want to tell your grand-kids that you “could have” done this or “should have” tried that when you are 80 years old? You need to try it out to know or you’ll feel like you are lying to yourself all your life.
What if you had 2 months left to live. How will live your life?
Many people wait for a wake up call; a near death experience, an accident, or the loss of a loved one to realize they need to start to listen to themselves. Are you one of those people? Because here is breakout news: you don't need to get hit by a bus to find the courage to listen to your heart and guts. I did many things in my life. I tried to be a high level Judo fighter, I became a professional magician, I studied acting in London and gave a shot at this profession. I wrote books, travelled and built two start-ups. And it is just the beginning for me. From a winner-looser perspective, I failed quite often. I failed to go to national first division in Judo. I failed to make a career as an actor (although this one was more of a choice). I failed at selling many books. I failed in a start-up, financially speaking.
But I never failed to give it shot. I never failed to myself and I never failed to inspire other by being relentless. And this is what I don't regret a single episode of my life. I learned from all of them, listen to my guts and my head along the way. Today I feel great and I know I'll have so many stories to tell my kids and grand-kids with pride and nostalgia.
Regrets are the biggest risk in life. The rest, you can manage.
#3 STOP GROWING AND REGRESS
It is in human nature to keep growing, learning and evolving. When we stop growing we don’t stagnate, we are regressing. It is one or the other. We don’t “stay the same”. Laws of nature at work. A plant grows or slowly dies. Immobilize your arm for a month and you loose your muscles. Trust me, I got two surgeries on the shoulder, I saw my arm constantly changing, it never stayed the same.
When you stay in the same boring or toxic job for years, you give up on your happiness also because you don't evolve. You are going backwards. Conversly, when you try something new, your learning rate goes through the roof. I lived that with the start-up I was telling about earlier. In my article, I tell the story of how we failed miserably at it. But also how much I've learned as a result.
When you are going for a new goal, all the cells of your body are firing up to learn what you need to attain it. You don't learn to start. You start and learn along the way what you need. And if you fail, you've learned so much, you can't even call it a failure anymore. So we can see it that way:
Try doing what you love, and the worst that could happen is that you learn something.
When you listen to yourself, dare to step into the unknown, nothing is guaranteed but to learn and live an adventure.
Not so bad, is it?
BECOME The king / QUEEN OF THE WORLD INSTEAD
I got one of my first gig ever as a magician when my former employer (the owner of the Coffee place I used to work at) called me to give a show at his son's birthday. I accepted and asked for 180 euros for a 45-minute show, a fairly low price. He said to me: "it’s a bit expensive, may we say 160? ". "Ok".
The next thing I remember, is coming out of this show with my red tie around my neck, in one hand my dove in a cage and 160 euros in cash in the other, containing my joy. When I got into my old Renault Clio, I shouted “Woohoo!!! Yes! » at the top of my lungs, showing the few bills to my dove. She looked at me and I know what she would have replied to me if she could have: "You're stupid, you scared me... and you're not going to go far with 160 euros".
I didn't care, I was the king of the world at the time.
This is what I wish for you: this feeling. The feeling of pride that you have when you built or achieved something by yourself. The freedom you acquire when you become an entrepreneur. When you know you now have a choice and you are on the path to create more choices for your life.
I wish you can once get to know the deep satisfaction to do something you are aligned with. When you help or inspire someone. When work does not feel like a boring duty. When time passes more quickly and it is a pleasure to work. The pleasure of producing something, building a project you care about, meeting a need.
I wish you to feel like the Queen / or the King of the world.