It’s an old joke, but a good one.
How to know it’s time
For more than twenty years, I’ve set as my big goal “to infect a billion people with the possibility virus.”
(This sounded better before Covid, I’ll grant you.)
It works for me as a beacon for a few reasons.
It’s an impossible goal … I can’t even fathom how to reach a billion people. And I’ll never get there. But to get even close, I need to keep saying Yes to the things that scare me.
It’s a goal that doesn’t need me to be the star or the guru or the hero or whatever. It’s about creating work that spreads without me.
It defines the fundamental impact I’m striving to make: supporting people to see that they have more choices than they realize, and in those moments, to make the braver choice.
The braver choice.
It’s as if you’re at a crossroads: Do you go left, or right? Stay the easier course, or pick the harder (more interesting to you) route?
How do you know it’s time to make the braver choice, and commit?
If it’s obvious, well then, you already know. So stop pretending otherwise, and get on with it. (Please.)
But if it’s not so obvious, then here are some ways of noticing what your mind, your body, your psyche and/or your world might be whispering to you …
You’re feeling restless, but you’re not sure what you’re restless for.
You’re seeing now that you’re at a plateau.
You’ve made the same New Year’s resolution for the last three years.
The life you’ve built has stopped working as well as it once did.
You’re a little sulky, sullen, and behaving badly for no obvious reasons.
Things are a little too easy, too comfortable.
What was once a path is now a groove.
You’re mostly telling stories of past glories, rather than present adventures.
When people ask you how you are, you can feel yourself spinning up your internal PR agent to paint a pretty picture.
Someone you know has just done the thing you’ve been talking about doing for years.
You’re worried that you’re going to miss your chance.
You’re realizing you’ve got less to lose than you thought.
You can feel “future you” calling you forward.
I’ll make no bones about it: I’m trying to stir things up here a little.
If there’s any chance that you’re ready to disrupt your status quo, I want to agitate and amplify that.
If there’s any chance that you’re ready to see more possibilities for yourself and your life, I want to help.
And if there’s any chance that you’re ready to make the braver choice, I want to be a resource and a cheerleader.
But first, what are you ready for?
What’s whispering to you?
What do you want?
I’d love for you to hit reply and let me know. The team reads everything and always shares the highlights and themes with me.
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