"Most people look to avoid risk; the greater risk is not going for it.
" I've always been fascinated by stories of spectacular achievement.
My library is filled with books about people of great accomplishment.
It's easy to admire those who have overcome difficult circumstances-people who have taken great risks and won.
What's really important, though, is what we can learn from these people we so revere.
If we can't benefit from their success, then we've missed some of the purpose of their having lived, struggled and triumphed.
We can use these success stories to increase the belief that we, too, can accomplish great things-and we surely can.
If my studies of great men and women have taught me anything, it's that they weren't really all that different from the rest of us.
It's just that what they wanted to accomplish was more important to them than their own doubts and fears.
Their circumstances weren't all that much different.
Their talents weren't always superior.
They were just willing to give their all-to go for it-full on, 100 percent, no matter what.
If there is so much veneration for those who go for the brass ring, why are there so few people willing to take the risk? One of the reasons is that we care too much about what others think.
The I-told-you-sos and knew-it-wouldn't-works are always going to be around.
I call them dream killers.
Perhaps they're placed here to test whether or not we're really serious about our goals.
Where do you stand on the "go-for-it scale?" What dream lies hidden away that you long to fulfill? Will you keep it buried inside and end up like those poor souls who Oliver Wendell Holmes was talking about when he wrote, "Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them?" Or will you be one of the few who stake everything on the accomplishment of your purpose? There's often great risk and pain involved in going for your dreams.
But if it were easy, then everyone would do it.
It wouldn't be exceptional.
There's risk either way.
And I think there's even greater risk and suffering in not going for it.
No doubt about it, putting yourself out there and telling the world what you're going to do is scary! What if you don't succeed and everyone sees you fail? What then? The truth is, most people don't think about you anywhere near as much as you might think.
Most people think of themselves.
And, oftentimes, the people who are the most critical are usually secretly wishing they had the guts to do what you're doing.
I know what it's like to fail.
I've fallen out of the sky several times, but I'd rather crash and burn than wear myself out sitting on the runway trying to get up enough courage to take off.
It's more fun, too! Sure it hurts to fail, but it hurts more to live with the feelings of knowing you were not willing to try.
Helen Keller said, "Security is mostly superstition.
It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man 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.
" Life's a risk.
In fact, it's so risky we're not going to get out alive.
If we knew the outcome of everything, if everything turned out just the way we wanted, it would be boring.
There would be no fun and no adventure.
In the words of Goethe, "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, magic and power in it.
" Don't wait for the perfect time.
It won't ever come.
Go for it now!