To Change Your Life, You Have to Start
Are you ready to change?
You’re imagining a new life where your dissatisfaction turns to delight. You see yourself in a lavish home with a glistening pool, surrounded by beautiful, laughing, sun-soaked friends. Or, possibly, you dream about landing the dream job with a private jet and making business trips to far-off places.
Or, you are not into the grandeur. Maybe a little enjoyment would suffice.
The shiny things in life don’t matter. The shiny new car, the sprawling home, the endless holidays, and the luxury accessories are all just distractions of actual change. The essence of transformation starts with you, not in the collection of things.
If you are genuinely interested in living a rewarding life where you are satisfied deep in your core without the glitter and glamor, then you need to start.
Build Up The Courage and Do Something
The first step can feel like standing at the edge of a cliff about to step into the abyss.
The unknown is scary, but you’re not skydiving; you’re experimenting. The only way to discover what lies beyond is to jump. The jump is an experiment to see what happens. Yet, few muster up the courage to act.
Learning how to cook doesn't start with a Michelin-star meal. It begins with cutting a carrot. Learning a language doesn’t start with fluency. It begins with downloading an app. Meeting the love of your life doesn’t start with firework intimacy. It begins with saying hi.
Once you make a small step, you build confidence into another. Soon, momentum will propel you forward.
Do something—literally anything. Just start.
Growth is the Goal, Not Excellence
Perfection is a myth.
You are telling yourself, “If I’m not going to be great, why start in the first place?” Doing this is getting ahead of yourself. Do you know if you even like the thing? Do you know enough right now to start being good, let alone great?
Aim for growth. Expectations of excellence are holding you back.
Don’t aim for the blue ribbon and best pumpkin of the year. Just try to get your first sprout breaking the soil. Growth comes from consistent, imperfect action. Water and care for your seeds. Watch them grow and learn from doing.
Each effort, each mistake, is a step toward being better.
Everything Has a Cost
There is a price tag on everything.
You either have to pay money or pay with time, effort, and discomfort. Acknowledging that you will have to pay the price for the life you want demystifies the challenge ahead.
If you want to switch careers, the cost might be returning to school or sacrificing evenings for online education. If you want to create a business, the price is putting yourself out there, learning through failure, and putting more effort and time into this than you ever thought possible.
Yet, the investment is worth every penny. The sacrifice is what creates the new you. The new you is the result, not the new career or the flourishing new business.
Understand there is a trade-off and that it is all worth it after you pay it.
If You Never Start, You Will Never Know
What could have been? What if? If only?
Your biggest regrets are what you could have done, not what you did. Curiosity of what might have been will haunt you to your grave. Not starting, you resign yourself to wonder forever.
Sure, the new career aspirations might blow up in your face. The small business could turn into a giant nightmare. Yet, you only know once you try. If you never try, you will always regret not trying.
Your greatest passion starts with an attempt at something new. Your biggest success begins with a bit of risk. Something grand and new starts with something small and insignificant.
All the invaluable lessons and a clearer sense of purpose begin with trying it.
Get in the Game
You do not need to be the best to enjoy life, but you do need to participate.
This world we live in is just one big game. You go on side quests. You search unexplored sections of the map to find new treasures. You work to build experience and level up your character.
However, if you don’t play, you can never win. Get into the dance. Be a fool and learn some new moves. Happiness and fulfillment stem from involvement.
Spectating is different from playing. You can cheer on another team, but winning or losing in the arena is a real experience.
Get off the bench and into the game. Embrace the uncertainty. Be willing to lose.
You will never regret going after your entire life’s potential.
