You’re too good for that. Here’s why (if you cannot see the video below, you can watch it here):

So take that fear by the horns and get into action already. How will you ever know what could be if you don’t?

Thoughts on fear in business? Fear in life? How do you push through it and get yourself to take that critical first step?

I snapped a photo of the entry, however, not because of its historical importance but because of it’s application to our businesses today.

Stick with me here. This wraps up all neat and tidy-like, PROMISE.

So, what do you think, could we sum this up by saying that nothing of great importance is ever achieved unless a risk is taken?

Or perhaps we could say that history’s greatest accomplishments are typically the result of someone willing to do what no one else has ever been willing to do?

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Or how about something like you never know unless you try?
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Do you think you can you make that first phone call? Or finally put pen to paper to record those goals? Or read that first, positive book that’s been sitting on your nightstand for three years?

Can you finally launch that blog you’ve been intending to get off the ground for months? Or upload and share that first photo? Or record that first podcast?

Can you finally talk to that banker to discuss your idea? Or your lawyer? Or CPA? Spouse? DOG?!

I bet you can. And you know what? Even if you can’t, you won’t know unless you try.
“The good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine.” – Meriwether Lewis

I want to take a pen to this and add, “…but we don’t give a sh*t. We’re giving it a try anyway.”

We CAN have it, you know. Because those successes? They all started somewhere. They all made the decision, at some point in the past, to take action. Your success, just like theirs, lies within your ability to decide to take a step.

Do it. Like, right now. How will you ever know if you don’t?

I returned last week from a stunning 10-day vacation to Hawaii with my family and, after catching up on a week-plus worth of backlogged tweets and blog posts and emails, started thinking about unplugging. Or, more accurately, how unplugging affects your work when you finally plug back in.

I didn’t really plan to completely unplug. I actually didn’t give it any thought before I left. After all, especially this past year, thinking in terms of tweets and blog posts ideas and status updates was something my brain has grown quite accustomed to. Those brain cells were always ON.

Once arriving and really considering the importance and meaning of the trip (to celebrate my parents 30th anniversary, vacationing in a place they hadn’t been since my mother was pregnant with me, and finally experiencing one of my and my husband’s top wish-list destinations), it just seemed like the right thing to do. After all, if I WERE to unplug, what better situation would there be to do it? So anyway, without much thought, I left my laptop in the closet and (once I located the never-used POWER button) shut down my phone. (And let’s not confuse making a specific choice like this with laziness, like using vacations or holidays as an excuse. Do you agree?)

It was quick work to turn off the electronics, but a good 24 hours before I convinced my brain to stop thinking in tweet-speak.

Awaiting our flights back east I turned everything back on, electronics AND brain cells, and boy oh boy, the ideas and inspirations came flooding in. It was as if turning everything off was only a conscious thing. Perhaps behind the scenes the entire time there was much blog-thought and tweet-speak going on without my knowledge. I was clear-headed, relaxed, and ready to get to work.

So, I think it was a good thing, unplugging. It didn’t seem to harm any of my efforts networking. In fact, it was fun to see many I connect with on a regular basis reach out in return while I was away. It was an awesome break, an even more meaningful (and beautiful) trip, and now that I’m home, a great motivator. I’m clear-headed, full of ideas, and reassured to know that, if you have to temporarily unplug, the world will go on. Your business, too, will go on.

So, what say you? Do you think it’s important to unplug once in a while? Do you think it’s a laziness thing or a conscious choice? If you have unplugged before, has it set you back, or have you been able to pick back up with things?

P.S. I did send a couple tweets on tsunami day, to notify everyone that we had evacuated and were out of harms way. However, I argue that that doesn’t count. Thank you so much if you were one of the kind, thoughtful dozens that contacted me to make sure we were ok!

Do you plan to keep your momentum going through the holiday season? Are you going to take a break, to relax a bit? What do you think would happen if you kept focused and on task right on through to Jan 1?

I got to thinking about this today after a Twitter conversation on the subject. You could have all the motivation in the world, but if you lack direction, you’re stuck dead in the water. The point of this post it not to announce “the way” to make a decision, because everyone does it differently and I don’t think one-size-fits-all when you comes to decision-making. The point of all of this is that, simply, I’m curious.

I have always been able to, upon realizing that I, in fact, have a decision to make, throw the available options into the back of my brain, walk around with them rolling around in there, and confidently know that within a day or two – sometimes just a matter of hours – one will specifically and certainly pop out.

I’m serious. This is how I do it. I mull and mull and mull indirectly until one of the options comes to the surface.

Is that normal?!

How do you do it? Have you ever experienced a time when you had all the motivation and options in the world but were stuck because you couldn’t make a decision on which option to pursue? Share the details. Which venture did you finally choose? How did you do it?

Outside help…time…random guess? When faced with options, how do you decide what direction to go?

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling. The point is, today was eye-opening, and not just because of everything I learned but because I am really launching myself out of my comfort zone by being here. I’m a relative newcomer to the blogging industry, I mean, come on, my Twitter account hasn’t even hit its 1st birthday. I don’t know every famous name in blogging or every influential person in social media. Those nichely famous names that, when a panelist drops them into their presentation, everyone laughs but me. I don’t own a Mac, I don’t make any money from blogging (unless you count $.12 per day as money), and I can’t tell you what it was like to blog back when no one knew the definition of the word. Also, I traveled here and am attending the conference all by myself. I registered and booked the trip on a whim, simply because I just knew I should. So today was eye-opening because I grew. For entrepreneurs and those that strive to always be the best person they can be, stepping outside of your comfort area isn’t anything new. But there are always those times when you realize that you’re not just stepping, you’re launching outside of that zone. And today I did it.

I DID it! And tomorrow I’ll do it again.

Ahem.

Attention! People of the World! Why oh why, may I ask, do you keep throwing excuses out into the universe for why you can not and will not find success? For why you can’t achieve your goals? Why do you do this? Why do you feel inclined to inform me, or anyone else, of these excuses?

I. DO. NOT. CARE. I DON’T CARE!

I mean, I do care. Of course. I care in some way, shape, or form for everyone I get to know. But in a I’m-just-fine-to-spend-my-precious-time-with-someone-else-who-actually-believes-in-themselves way, I don’t care to hear or be around anyone who constantly feels the need to share excuses with others as to why they aren’t the huge success they wished they were. Because you know what? I’m smart enough to realize that you aren’t using those excuses to convince others. You’re just using them to convince yourself. And I don’t need to be around to help you do that.

So the next time I hear someone reason away their dreams, their goals, their biggest aspirations in life, I will politely turn and walk away, wishing them the best, and wondering with fascination and concern if they will ever realize that, the key to their elusive success? It’s as simple as switching their focus from the reasons why they can’t find it to the reasons why they can.

YOU CAN.

If you decide to.

Maggie is an accomplished author and blogger, in addition to an inspiring, creative, and fascinating person, so her posts on the life list items she choose to live out, the shenanigans that entailed, and the experiences she had were amazing. I’ve been following them religiously not only because of their high inspiration and entertainment value, but because I have a life list of my own. I know how it feels to cross out an item. And I can only dream how it would feel if a giant corporation called me up one one day and nonchalantly announced that not only were they going to encourage me to set aside my normal day-to-day routine for a few months and cross out ten items of my choosing, but they would fit the bill.

I mean. Wow.

Last week Maggie posted her final piece of the campaign and it didn’t disappoint. I’ve been adding and crossing out entries on my own life list since mid-2006 so I was inspired not only by Maggie’s experience the past few months but by the simple fact that her list is displayed for the world to see on her website. Everyone can see it! EV.ER.Y.ONE. Her dreams, goals, and aspirations, both serious and silly. Out in the open! So courageous.

Maggie inspired me, so I’ve decided to do something a bit crazy. I’m going to publicize my own life list.

OH MY GOSH I’M GOING TO PUBLICIZE MY LIFE LIST.

So, here it is, kids. In all of its glory. I’ll eventually get to creating a widget on the sidebar to permanantly display the list, but until then you can reference it within this post. The only reason I could convince myself to do this, and why I’d imagine Maggie also threw hers out to the big, bad, public Internet wolves, is that I hope it inspires someone. And not because I think that I’m personally more inspiring than anyone else, I’m most definitely not, but because if me showing my list of dreams and aspirations encourages even one other person out there to write a list of their own, it will be worth it.

—————–

ALS Life List
Est. 07/11/2006

1. Get married
2. Give birth to/adopt 2 children, if not 3…or 4
3. Get my master’s degree for no other reason than to formally learn something new
4. Ride RAGBRAI all 7 days
5. Own a lake home
6. Ski a black diamond
7. Own a business
8. Run a half marathon
9. Run a full marathon
10. Go on an Alaskan cruise
11. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
12. Be financially independent
13. Go deep sea fishing
14. Buy my Daddy the truck he’s always wanted but never reasoned purchasing
15. Get my real estate license
16. Write a published letter to the editor
17. Spend at least 2 weeks on a United States road trip
18. Own a black Range Rover
19. Watch fireworks in some location other than North America
20. Ride a horse on a beach
21. Re-learn how to play the piano…and play WELL
22. Volunteer at an animal shelter
23. Write/publish a best-selling book…or two…or three!
24. Enter a golf tournament
25. Join the PTA
26. Donate enough money to at least one thing in my community that it qualifies for a name on a plaque/bench/building/etc…and put my parents names on it
27. Win a public speaking award
28. Learn how to sew
29. Have a vegetable/herb garden
30. Attend the Olympics on a continent other than North America
31. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
32. Inspire a stranger in such a way that they rush up to me in an airport & share their success story about how they literally ARE living a better life because of something I created/wrote/said/filmed.
33. Tour California wine country
34. Professional decorate my home
35. Own and love a doggie
36. Decide on Monday to take a fabulous vacation on Friday to somewhere I’ve never been…and GO
37. Hike around a volcano
38. Swim in all of the world’s major oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, Indian)
39. Dance in a city plaza in Prague
40. Host an exchange student
41. Step foot on all 7 continents
42. Comission a custom-made business suit
43. Own a Rolex
44. Drink a cappuccino in Italy
45. Visit the sailboat sail hotel in Dubai
46. Send an anonymous financial gift to someone, large enough that it changes their lives
47. Turn a house into a home that is decorated so perfectly that it truly makes me more comfortable waking in the front door
48. Go to Africa on a mission trip
49. Spend a month in Italy with my family…on my dime.
50. Finally have a haircut I love
51. Reach the point where I feel like I eat and live as naturally and healthy as possible
52. Take a weekend trip with a child under 1 year old
53. Slalom water ski
54. Take cooking classes
55. Host Thanksgiving dinner
56. Climb an Egyptian pyramid
57. Take a photo of a white-and-blue-dwelling-dotted Greece coastline
58. Stand under a waterfall
59. Zipline through the rainforest
60. Get invited to the set of Mythbusters
61. Own a Colorado mountain home for Nathan…and all of our extended family
62. Make a piece of furniture
63. Be a guest on someone’s private jet
64. Walk part of the Appalachian Trail
65. Try caviar
66. Affect enough people’s lives that some editor wants to put me on the cover of their magazine
67. Take/host our extended family on a beach vacation
68. Create a magnificent library in our home
69. Attend a black tie event
70. Visit Angel Falls in Venezuela
71. Be 100% my own boss (aka. FIRE any other bosses) before I turn 29
72. Sit in Central Park & people watch all day long
73. Attend Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder meeting and listen to Warren Buffet speak
74. Eat dinner at Bern’s Steak House in Tampa, FL…home of the world’s largest restaurant collection of wine
75. Get invited to be interviewed on a national talk show
76. Eat dinner at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, CA

Cannot WAIT to see your lists.

Go. Dream. Be inspired.

Do you have a life list? Yes? No? Is it in your head or written down? Do you think lists like this are silly? If you do believe in life lists, send me a note when you cross an item off, I’ll save a high-five for ya…

We drove away from the house after the tour amazed. We had walked in without much thought, expecting to see a pretty, old house and kill some time, yet walked out inspired, intrigued, educated, and shocked about this new piece of history we never knew we didn’t know. A huge win.

My point? You never know what you’re gonna get. You never know what you’re gonna get! We branched out of our comfort zone – a bit beyond our normal interests – and ended up with a huge win. Like I said, we ended up inspired, educated, curious, and amazed. Apply this to business. You push yourself to do something you normally wouldn’t do, more often than not you’ll benefit. Sometimes, you’ll benefit huge. Will it make you uneasy to go present in front of 50 people when you’re normally comfiest in front of 5? Perhaps. Will it kill you? Of course not. Regardless of how it goes, will you grow from the experience? Yes.

It might be giving a presentation to a larger group, exploring a new type of marketing, learning a new technology, selling a product before you’re memorized all the facts, or even launching a new business. There aren’t many guarantees in the entrepreneurship world. There’s no guarantee that if you leap out of your comfort zone and try something new that you’ll succeed. There is a pretty solid guarantee, although, that if you do decide to leap you will at least be able to say that you tried it. You WILL learn something. And you know what? If you never leap at all, you won’t even have the chance to succeed.

Because you never know what you’re gonna get. And what if what you get is phenomenal? But if you don’t leap at all, you know what you’ll have – the same. Guaranteed.