A Diluted Life

How unfortunate would it be if you realized you were living a fraction of the life you were capable of? That you were letting incredible moments pass you by instead of being fully immersed in the richness of every moment. Life is meant to be lived completely, and some of your best times come when your heart is pumping in your chest, you feel a nervous anticipation about what’s going to happen, you're gritting at the pain of physical exertion, or that you’re on the verge of triumph (or failure).

If you want to make the absolute most out of life, you cannot live a diluted version of it. Life can be so sweet if only you allow yourself to taste it, but many people water-down their life because they’re being held back by the fear of what might happen. That someone will disagree with you, or they won’t like you. That you’ll lose all of your money. That your reputation is at stake. Or worst yet, that you might disappoint yourself if you try your best and realize you weren’t actually good enough.

While all of those things are real points to consider, what I’ve found to be true in my life (and something I’ve validated in the story of many incredible people) - The greatest payoffs of life require that you expose yourself to the biggest risks. The upside of a business is proportional to the risk you take on. The ecstasy of falling in love means that your heartbreak will hurt that much more. 

There are real consequences to your decisions and they can cause pain, but I think it’s better to allow yourself to feel both the good and the bad rather than nothing at all. And to further complicate things, your negativity bias defaults you to think discouragingly about all the things that can go wrong rather than optimistically about how great it would be if things go right. This makes the risk and fear that much stronger, and it holds us back that much more.

There’s an expression in baseball that goes “You can’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” I think that summarizes it well. You’ve got to put yourself in the game and take a big swing. It’s in those moments of wonder and uncertainty where everything is on the edge. It’s when you feel most alive, and I want you to feel that way more often. 

This is so much easier said than done. Many of us don’t have a tolerance for the risk or a sense of self-belief that gives us the confidence to put ourselves out there as consistently as we’d like to. That’s where I believe the Best Self Breakthrough Challenge can support you. In the 21 Day challenge, that starts right when the New Year begins, you’ll create momentum in your life that will help you to take more risks and succeed in ways you never imagined possible. You’ll have the confidence to take action through negativity bias and really squeeze the juice that life has to offer you. If you’re ready to have an unrestrained, unstoppable 2023, click the link here to sign up for the challenge.